Jacob Itzkowitz, a teenager with a knack for handling horses, leaves behind village life in anti-Semitic Czarist Russia to seek his fortune in the South African gold rush boom of the 1890s. His skills and brashness attract the attention of a Boer leader who persuades Jacob to undertake a dangerous, clandestine mission. Reward in hand from completing the harrowing expedition, Jacob stealthily returns to his birthplace to take a spirited young bride, Shira. Together they venture to build a new life in early 20th Century America, where the secret Shira conceals ripples through generations and provokes intra-family strife. Their strong wills enable Jacob and Shira to succeed in a strange new land, while creating clashes, fueling feuds, and sowing the seeds for a complex legal battle over inheritance.
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