No place for a horseman. But some refuge. Good enough.

San Josef, 1898: For Clayton Monroe, this struggling colony at the far northwest corner of Vancouver Island is his last hope of refuge--a sanctuary from the imagined demons and real enemies who have pursued him for three decades, across the Civil War battlefields of Virginia and the plains of Kansas to the gold-rush gateway of Seattle.

For Anika Frederickson, San Josef is her new home, a community built on the promises of provincial government officials and carved from the coastal wilderness by the perserverance and dedication of her fellow Danish co-operative idealists.

Blowing in on the rain and wind that batter the failing outpost of San Josef comes the inevitable challenge to Clayton's safety and Anika's family.

At San Josef, the rainforest and the river will bear witness.