The year is 1865 and Sergeant Tom Smyth of the 10th Louisiana Infantry has just been discharged from Camp Rathburn in Illinois, a holding centre for Confederate prisoners of war. His internment had been brought about by being captured during the United States Civil War between the Northern and Southern States.

Smith refused to sign the Oath of Allegiance, as demanded by his northern captors, resulting in him being unceremoniously bundled out through the prison gates, possessing and wearing nothing but the rag-tag remnants of a once-proud uniform.

Intending to head due west to the rich goldfields of California, he tramped on foot through a hostile countryside troubled by army deserters, outlaws and bands of Native Americans.