The Ross family is reunited in St. Louis after three years of separation; Naomi returned from California where she sought to establish herself as a curandera at one of the twenty-one missions; Duncan back to St. Louis to reestablish himself in business there. With most of the characters Reiley created for Soft Gold and Hard Gold gathered in St. Louis, he plunged into the last book of his trilogy attempting to bring to closure the lives of his people. Only the reader can pass judgment of Reiley¿s success or failure in this attempt. He does remain true to his vow not to bend history, but to bend his creations to fit the historical settings in which he placed them.