Half-breed tinkerer Kali McAlister doesn't care that the gold rush has stormed into Dawson and prospectors are flooding the north--all she wants is to finish construction of her airship, so she can escape the Yukon and see the world. Unfortunately, the world keeps chucking wrenches into her machinery: a mysterious gambler is pumping her for information on her bounty-hunting business partner Cedar; the notorious gangster Cudgel Conrad is after Kali's knowledge of flash gold; and a series of gruesome murders is plaguing Dawson. Someone--or something--is ruthlessly slaying tribal women, and, if Kali and Cedar can't find the killer, she might be the next target.