The Magnificent Dream

THE MORRISONS -- Ezra, the proud patriarch; Prudence; Tolerance; and the beautiful Susannah -- a woman bound to her elders by duty and forbidden love. They left New York to follow the charismatic Sam Brannan on a periolous journey around Cape Horn, seeking refuge in California, lured by the vision of a New Zion.

THE McKAYS -- Forced from their Illinois farm, Sean, Mary, and their three lovely daughters would join the Donner's wagon train, traveling overland toward a new life in the virgin West.

They were the outcasts and empire builders, the faithful and the godless, the lovers and the losers. Battling the savage elements of their own unbridled passions, they reached out to seize the future.