On the eve of the Civil War, Huck Finn decides to escape "sivilization" and "light out for the Territory." In Robert Coover's homage to Mark Twain, Huck finds himself riding for the Pony Express, then working as a scout in the war. Separated from Tom Sawyer, he is drawn into a Lakota tribe in the Black Hills on the eve of the 1876 Gold Rush, and Huck will need to stay ahead of an army colonel who intends to see him hang.