Spunky Texas oil heiress Cassidy McClare, jilted of her fortune, pays a summer visit with her wealthy cousins in San Francisco to help her forget her heartache -- and meets handsome Jamie McKenna, a handsome pauper looking to marry well.

Detective Nick Barone would rather do almost anything than teach petite socialite Allison McClare jiu-jitsu, but it seems he has little choice in the matter. Sparks fly every time the two meet until a grudging friendship develops into something deeper. But when Nick suddenly leaves town, Allison realizes he's a fraud just like all the rest of the men she's cared for. Does she dare love again?

On her way to San Francisco to find her brother, Caleb, who went missing three months ago, Camriann Coulter meets Judith and Kenzie, who both have their own mysteries to solve in the booming West Coast city. The women decide to help each other, including rooming together and working at Kenzie's cousin's chocolate factory. Camri's search for her brother, an attorney, leads her deep into the political corruption of the city-- and into the acquaintance...

Just turned twelve, Lily is the oldest of the three children in her Chinese American family living in San Francisco when the 1906 earthquake hits; her family has survived the quake, but as the city starts to burn Lily and her younger brother are separated from the others and must get to the safety of Oakland across the bay and hope that the rest of their family and friends are there waiting for them--but between the fire and the anti-Chinese violence...