All Carolyn Potter wanted was a safe haven in which to raise her son, Jason, not to find a night stalker lurking in the forest surrounding their new mountain home. Following the unsolved murder of her husband and a violent attack on her son, Carolyn Potter learns she has inherited a cattle ranch located in a remote valley high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She eagerly leaps at the opportunity to escape urban violence, move out of her oppressive mother's home and get away from her hungry eyed, lip licking employer, Tom Kirby. Kirby, buried under gambling debts, is destroying Kirby Publications, a company built by his deceased father. Learning of Carolyn's inheritance compels him to win her favor in order to marry into her newfound wealth but Carolyn chooses Shangri-la, her dead husband's family ranch. Carolyn and Jason love their new home but soon learn of a local ritual being practiced on their land where a bull calf is brutally slaughtered with each cycle of the full moon....

1855 Vladivostok – All Major, the Count Mikhail Diebitsch-Zabalkansky wanted for his outstanding service in combat was to receive his elevation to the Order of St. George in the 3rd degree, an irrevocable designation as a count in the governance of all Russia. At the reception ball in Vladivostok, when he invites the Grand Duchess, Catherine Mikhailovna, to join him for the opening waltz, he is surprised when the Grand Duke, Nikolai Nikolaievich, to assault him, first with the sword and then with a gun. In self-defense, Mikhail chops off the grand duke's right hand. Badly wounded, he flees for his life. His uncle sneaks him aboard a clipper ship bound for San Franciosco, loaded with Chinese slaves. Chaing Po, a free Chinese doctor, and his young daughter, SuLin, save Mikhail's life and nurse him back to health. Still weak when he lands in San Francisco, Mikhail is mugged and fleeced of all his money. Shortly after, events find him fighting for his life again, this time under the care of the widow, Molly O'Brian. Still an arrogant nobleman, Mikhail sees those around him as peasants. When he hears Molly and her friends talking behind his back, his attitude begins to change. Over a series of exciting historic events, surrounded by historic characters, Mikhail learns that truth and justice are far more important than position and wealth. Through his exploits, her earns the new title – Paladin.