Eighteen-year-old Jemima McBustle is as popular as a porcupine in the punchbowl with the staff of the St. Louis Illuminator. Furor follows when she sneaks off to beat a fellow newsman to the story of a dead Lilliputian on the railroad tracks.

To win a peaceful moment, her editor ships her out of town whenever he can. This time he posts her to Peoria, Illinois for the opening of the new city hall on January 5, 1899.

Jemmy is in luck. Her rich uncle and her business-minded little sister are eager to make the trip. In fact, Uncle provides transportation--at least part of the way--in his sparkling new Dorris automobile. Uncle also secures lodging at a bizarre home with an eccentric hostess who speaks to her guests through her Basset Hound.

After finessing the job of her dreams at a St. Louis newspaper, Jemmy knows she must deliver stories that will sell papers. But she faces roadblocks at every turn. Jemmy is determined to keep the career she loves. But she can’t help being attracted to the men who are attracted to her. Should she marry or hold on to her career? What’s a girl to do when all her old beaux turn up to bedevil her?

The journey plunges her into the world of high-stakes finance and the unimaginable power of railroad barons like William K. Vanderbilt. The trip chases her up muddy hills, through dark buildings, and into a near fatal brush with electricity.