Charlie and Eli Sisters live in Oregon City and work for the Commodore, magnate and possible political aspirer who pulls a lot of strings in the shadows and has multiple and varied businesses. The brothers are his hired killers, to call a spade a spade, and at times his executioners. This time they are on their way to Sacramento, California to carry out a new job for their boss, and make sure Hermann Kermit Warm, a gold digger, ends up dead. The novel takes place in 1851, at the height of the Gold Rush.