Publishers and/or pagings may vary.

Journeying westward from his native Quebec, Jean Talon "stumbles upon a deadly conspiracy involving a young woman's search for her missing brother and a ruthless band of renegades" who want to take over the Louisiana Territory and turn it into an independent nation. Can Jean stop them and also realize his dream of becoming a builder of frontier steamboats?

Jean Talon strikes out at a man who intends to make the Louisiana Purchase his personal kingdom.

His dream was to build magnificent steamboats to ply the rivers of the American frontier. But when Jean Talon began his journey westward, he stumbled upon a deadly conspiracy involving a young woman's search to find her missing brother, and a ruthless band of renegades. Led by the brazen Baron Torville, this makeshift army of opportunists is plotting a violent takeover of the Louisiana Territory. Jean swears to find a way to stop this daring plan. If he doesn't, it will not only put an end to all his dreams: it will change the course of history--and destroy the promise of the American frontier.