Fremont Jones and her "partner in love and work," Michael Archer, have been hired to look into a series of petty vandalisms plaguing the Southern Pacific Railroad. They are riding a train incognito when it is blown to smithereens just east of Salt Lake City. Michael, luckily, suffers only a broken collarbone, but Fremont simply disappears.. "Holding stubbornly to the belief that she is still alive, Michael sets out to find her. Meanwhile, Fremont, with a serious head injury and two broken legs, has been spirited away from the site of the explosion by a dark and imperious rescuer - Melancthon Pratt, a devout and dictatorial Mormon who already claims five wives and is bent on making Fremont his sixth. Awakening in Pratt's remote cabin, confused and completely dependent on her captor, Fremont can only concentrate on devising a mode of escape.. "How she manages to get away - and how Michael is finally reunited with his partner (while being pursued not only by a former rival in the world of international espionage, but also by his and Fremont's would-be killer) - creates the basis for a fascinating two-pronged suspense tale told from alternating points of view.