Jubal Sackett, Barnabus' son and a loner and wanderer by nature, seeks a way to the shining mountains beyond what will be called the Mississippi River and the Great Plains. With two companions, one of whom is a beautiful princess of the Natchez nation, he travels down the Mississippi and up the Arkansas, following it until it emerges from the Rocky Mountains. He continues westward into the mountains until he finds the place where he wishes to settle. Gomez, a renegade Spanish officer who tries to buy the Natchez woman from Jubal, has broken with his own unit and is hurrying back to Santa Fe to turn in the first report, to get his story on record first. A tough, ruthless, and dangerous man, he is without scruples or a conscience. Diego is the officer agains whom Gomez rebels and a good and sincere man. He warns Jubal the Spanish will not permit him to trade there, yet when Jubal explains the Spanish might need an ally as well as a supply point, the Spaniard listens and seems receptive. Time period: 1620s.