In old San Francisco, in the era of the elegant boardinghouse and the great Spanish ranches, two vastly different women—intimate friends—fall disastrously in love with the same man. Harriet Townshend had a mop of flaming red curls, was dainty, vivacious, and flirtatious, and the most eligible bachelors in town were at her feet. Coralia Suarez, wealthy young widow and owner of the Corazón d’Oro ranch, had been forced by her family into marriage after an abortive love affair. Freed by her husband’s death, Coralia met Harriet, the young Irish beauty whose mother owned the most fashionable boardinghouse in San Francisco, and the two became great friends—until the handsome Philip Haagersen appeared.