Yearning for adventure, Garnet Cameron, a well-bred New York socialite of the 1840s, marries Oliver Hale, a trader about to cross the mountains and deserts to California. During Garnet and Oliver's honeymoon in New Orleans, she meets a dance-hall performer on the lam who calls herself Florinda Grove and is also traveling to California. Along the Jubilee Trail, Garnet and Florinda meet all manner of people, and together they make their painstaking way over the harsh trail to Los Angeles, learning how to live without compromise and discover both true friendship and true love.