Previous title: Daughter of the Mountain

In 1846 Jessie Spear joins the ill-fated Donner Party heading toward California. She’d promised her father she’d do everything she could to realize the dream they once shared. What no one in the party foresees is that travel delays and epic snowstorms will trap them high in the rugged Sierra Mountains. One after another of her companions die and she’s left to try to save a precious orphaned child.

Daniel Bear is a wanted man, an outcast among his own people. He joins a small group of would-be rescuers, and they manage to reach the survivors. Without Daniel’s strength and determination, Jessie can’t survive the trek down the mountain. As they fight the deep drifts and bone chilling cold, two strangers begin to trust each other, to care, to feel the first touches of love.

But making it to Sutter’s Fort brings no relief for either of them. Sutter refuses to sell land to an unmarried woman and Daniel’s past has caught up to him.

“A beautiful love story; sensitive, hard-hitting on the emotions.”—Catherine Anderson New York Times bestselling writer.
“Munn is a bright star in a galaxy where only the best shine.”—Anastasia Gazette.
“A powerful, heart-rending, and unusual love story told with grace, authority, and compassion.”—Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling writer.