Lee Westfall, a young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold, must flee her home to avoid people who would abuse her powers, so when her best friend Jefferson heads out across Gold Rush-era America to stake his claim, she disguises herself as a boy and sets out on her own dangerous journey.

Paige Miller fears she is the only person left alive in Ohio until she meets a handful of other survivors, and together they struggle with the knowledge that their new reality is the first part of an alien invasion.