Sonny Wells is a New York lawyer who's come west to help create government in the wilds of California, legal clerk for the military governor, General Mason. Even so, Sonny loves the excitement he finds in gold rush San Francisco, and he leaves Monterey to become a partner with the flamboyant Robert Parker, owner of the notorious Parker House. Before he makes that fatal step, however, he meets Valerian, the abandoned recluse of Mission Dolores. There...