Only her father understood her love of the unknown and the promise of distant dreams. Caught up in the excitement of America's westward expansion in 1835, fifteen-year-old Carolina Adams falls in love with the railroad. Living in a society that decidedly looks down on such aspirations in a woman, Carolina longs to study more masculine subjects such as science and advanced mathematics. Fresh out of college, James must decide whether to join his father in the banking industry or pursue his own fascination with the railroad business. While recovering from an injury in a train derailment, James takes on a tutoring job at the Adams' plantation. He will serve as Carolina's teacher, but more important to his family, he will court Virginia, Carolina's beautiful older sister. Overwhelmed by her father's surprise of a tutor, Carolina applies herself to her studies, while Virginia uses all of her southern charms to elicit a marriage proposal from James. But when Carolina's and James' mutual interests lead to unexpected feelings for each other, where will their dreams take them? - Back cover.