Her kingdom bankrupt, a princess travels to the New World in search of a fortune

When Princess Marlena's father, the benevolent ruler of the tiny kingdom of Hartz-Coburg, dies, he leaves behind nothing but a famous name and a mountain of debt. To fill her beloved nation's empty coffers, Marlena has two choices: marry or beg. Although she's considered one of Europe's great beauties, Marlena has a fiery temper and frightens off all but the most repulsive of the international nobility. Too proud to surrender to a man she does not love, Marlena goes to America to raise the money, arriving just in time to see the stock market crash of 1880.

Penniless and desperate, the princess decides to find investors among the gold-rush millionaires of the American West. Instead she finds misery, danger, and a handsome stranger with a temper rough enough to match her own. To make it home, Europe's toughest princess will have to find her inner cowgirl.