Book II of Frontier. On a Yankee clipper en route from Samoa to Sydney, Michael Duffy, once an idealistic dreamer, returns to the colony as a soldier of fortune on a dangerous mission and with old scores to settle. The bitter feud between the Duffys and the Macintoshes still enrages the vengeful mercenary. The Palmer River gold rush lures American Luke Tracy back to Australia in his hunt for riches and the love of his life, Kate O'Keefe, who has built a business empire on the rugged Queensland frontier. But the path to love may be as treacherous as the road to the goldfields.