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Wharton Cameron is a young American of Creole descent hired to engineer a spur line for a Mexican railroad. The business folds and he is stranded near Hermosillo. His preferred route to the Rio Grande is barred by marauding bands of the fearsome Hernando Luca, so Wharton heads toward the hacienda of Santa Eulalia where he seeks the protection of its hacendado (proprietor), Don Fernando Gutierrez. Don Fernando has no legitimate heir. He adopts Wharton and the transformation of Wharton to Don Pablo Gutierrez begins. Before long Don Pablo becomes hacendado, a man of wealth and station with grave responsibility for the livelihood of thousands. Don Pablo must marry to ensure their future by producing an heir. Whom shall he choose for his spouse? Will it be Wharton's college sweetheart, Dorry? Doña Flora, the fiery star of the Teatro Español? Or even, perhaps, Manuelita, a lovely maiden born to Santa Eulalia?