Caroline Cooper is suffocating in the isolated ruins of her Antebellum home. When the last pillar of her life crumbles, she has little choice but to cast her lot with Jack Transomb, professional gambler, as he heads for California.
Fascinated by the colorful world of gambling, Caroline embraces the challenge of learning the games to become a dealer herself, coming alive with newfound independence and sexual awakening in a culture that's as compelling as it is dangerous. Meanwhile, Jack is discovering he wants a different life altogether-and he wants it with Caroline. It's a cross-trajectory that drives them toward ever more destructive conflict until it finally blows them apart. From there, each must find their own way forward, learning who they really are, what they really want before they can ever attempt to find each other again. The odds are against them.
From riverboats to raw frontier towns to the exotic world of San Francisco's Chinatown, and finally to the young town of Reno, Nevada, Dealer's Choice is part love story and part journey of self-discovery as Jack and Caroline move through the unpredictable world of gambling that threaded together the American West in the years following the Civil War.