On the Atlantic, a young navy midshipman named Ned Beale wins friends in high places – including Commodore Robert F. Stockton and President James K. Polk – for his irrepressible, can-do attitude. In the Caribbean he confronts the horrors of the slave trade, and as ship’s master on the flagship of the Pacific fleet, he sails into port off Alta California…and into the blood and dust of war. Now, with Kit Carson and Captain John Charles Fremont, he’ll lead his sailor volunteers against the festooned lances of the Mexican soldados, pouring his soul and sweat into this land of parched beauty to secure it for the States. For Ned Beale has a vision of a road that extends from sea to sea, and he’ll crisscross this wild country, braving Indians, Californios, and the elements, to see it become reality.