In Alexandria, Virginia, in the mid-19th century, a slave-owning family is facing financial trouble. The eldest son, Jason, thinks going to California to mine for gold might be the best way to protect his father's legacy. He'll need a cook, a laundress, and a hostler for the journey, and one of them is twelve-year-old Clementine, whose mother calls her Hope.

From Independence, Missouri--the "Gateway to the West"--she and the others join a wagon train on the Emigrant Overland Trail. But what Jason didn't consider is taking the three enslaved people west will give them an opportunity to free themselves--manifesting their destiny.