Railroad detective Jimmy Lee "Choctaw" Parker returns in this Gilded Age thriller when in August of 1886 he is hired by oil baron and entrepreneur Henry Morrison Flagler who is buying up railroads and building his grand new Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida. But Flagler's vision of opening the Sunshine State to settlement and tourism is not shared by everyone, so "Choctaw" Parker must investigate both the sabotage against the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Halifax railroad construction, and the threats on Flagler's life. The brutal murder of one of Flagler's employees drags Parker and his colleagues, Angus "Chub" Moody and Matilda Vance, into a quagmire of dangerous reactionaries and violent union organizers who oppose northern influence in their fine, old city. With the help of the city marshal of St. Augustine and a brave young medical student, Parker, Moody, and Vance battle villains who would dare to end Flagler's dream.