After learning that his presumed-dead father may still be alive, Alfonso Perplexon, now fifteen years old, takes on the dangerous task of returning to the land of Dormia to search for him.

As Gair struggles with grief over the loss of the only home he had known--and his beloved--he's walking into a conflict that's greater and more deadly than he or his mentor ever anticipated. A storm of unrest's spreading across the land, and they're going to be caught up in it at a moment when Gair's hold on his magic--his greatest defense and most valuable tool--is starting to slip.

Wagon Master Clayton Scofield has led countless families across the dusty, wide-open territories of the West, helping the brave, sometimes reckless pioneers settle into new lives brimming with the promise of good lives. Accompanied by his nephew Clint Buchanan riding as scout and cook Spud Williams, Scofield's latest trail finds him guiding a train of thirty wagons from Independence, Missouri, to the distant dream of Oregon.