It is 1888, and for Jesse Riddle, time has already brought too much change. Caught between the excitement of life on Harrison Avenue in Leadville, Colorado, and his commitment to the Lord, he must now make some big decisions.

Work in the mines has exposed him to a new world of hard living and reckless self-indulgence, and Jesse knows that the direction his life is taking is hurting his preacher father. The church has always been the center of the young man's life, but now more worldly temptations are pulling him away. He tries to resist the lure of the saloons, with mixed success. His reputation as a man to be feared troubles him. But despite it all-the temptations, the accolades, the power-he could not ignore the commitment he had made to the Lord.

Jesse needs to get away for a while. The mountains have always been his place of sanctuary, and it is to their high reaches that he runs in times of doubt. He could not have imagined what God had in store for him-a mystery beyond his ability to understand. Strange new people and machines have slipped through time, but for what purpose? The choices he must make now will determine the course of the rest of his life. The stakes are high, and the time to decide is short.