In 1876 William Johnson used his summer break from Yale to work alongside renowned paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on a journey across the United States in search of dinosaur fossils. But Marsh's paranoia gets the best of him, and he leaves William in Cheyenne, Wyoming when he becomes convinced the young man is working as a spy for Marsh's arch rival, Edward Drinker Cope. Stranded in a town writhing with crime, William joins forces with Cope and finds a treasure that puts his life at risk.
