Meet Vera Johnson, the uncommonly resourceful 15-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, proprietor of San Francisco's most legendary bordello and ally to the city's corrupt politicians. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds—the madam's alluring sphere, and the violent life of the family paid to raise her. On the morning of the great 1906 quake, Vera's worlds collide. As the shattered city burns, Vera and her guileless sister, Pie, are cast adrift, but they forge an unlikely family of survivors to navigate their way beyond disaster.