In 1888, at the behest of his dying mother, Jacob Rocker, a young Jew, sets off on a journey from New York City to California. He endures the hardships of shipboard life passing through New Orleans and Galveston. He learns about the frontier as a freight hauler traveling through a chain of Texas army posts from San Antonio to El Paso. His journey through wilderness, the notorious Jornada del Muerto desert and the New Mexico mountains, involves struggles with his past and conflicting prospects for his future. He faces deprivation, bigotry, pain and pleasure. Jacob encounters some dynamic characters including the Apache chiefs Geronimo and Victorio, Buffalo soldier Col. Ronald Mackenzie, Santa Fe Archbishop Jean Lamy and territorial governor Lew Wallace. He falls in love with Hannah Jung, a young white woman who had been kidnapped by renegade Mescalero Indians. Rocker's search for a meaningful life on his pilgrimage is as relevant today as it was in A JOURNEY WEST.