In My Darling Clementine, Clem Dennison, 23, lives as a man among men, passing as a male prospector in California where she is a respected author writing popular articles about the gold rush and the colorful people of the wild west.
After a disturbing visit back east, she makes plans to return to the gold fields, joining a late-season wagon train headed for Sacramento.
Kizzy Walker, 18, arrives in Independence, Missouri as a single woman, alone, her only plan to chase the gold fever driving her west.
Recognizing Clem as a woman who is passing, Kizzy chases her into the dark night to confront her, inadvertently becoming a target for ruthless men.
Clem rescues the inexperienced, beautiful, impulsive woman, and finds herself in a passionate embrace.
Kizzy scandalizes them both by giving her a key to her hotel room, asking her to visit after everyone’s asleep. When Clem takes that chance, she meets a woman unlike any other.
No one else has ever seen through Clem before, much less thrown themselves into her arms.
She agrees to take Kizzy with her to California and teach her how to pan for gold, if the fascinating woman will marry her the next day, so they can travel in the wagon train as man and wife.
