During the Great Depression, three lost souls meet one another at Boulder Dam, a massive engineering project in the midst of the Nevada desert. The story begins with Filius Poe, an engineer coping with a grave personal loss. Lew Beck is an angry man who hhas lived a rough life and is ready to explode. Lena McCardell is travelling with her young son, and is hoping for a better future for the two of them. Each is drawn to the dam for different reasons, but they have all been haunted by tragedy.