Bitter Creek is fictional. Although considered western, there are no stampeding cattle, bucking horses or gunfights. Clayas Grandfather, Frank, has ran off to look for gold at South Pass in 1860 Wyoming territory (called Goldtown in this story). The last covered wagons on the Oregon Trail have passed over the continental divide. Gold had been discovered, but the veins have run out and the time is ripe for thieves. Frank is a rambling man who left his Kansas Estate to find gold and is now trapped, hidden with his gold. Where there is gold, there are crooks. Bitter Creek has its share. Even the territorial Sheriff Sayman is a crook. Grandfather Frank has written home from Goldtown to let the family know he is trapping beavers on Bitter Creek. Young Clay leaves Kansas to find Frank to take him back to Kansas. Clay has written to the sheriff at Goldtown requesting a meeting with him at his office, hoping the law will help in his search. Unknown to Clay, the sheriff is in cahoots with the thieves, and he will get no help from him and little from Deputy Willis Ormsby. There is a lot of talk of killings (nothing specific) that are resolved fully by dialogue at a trial in Goldtown, where the guilty will get their just punishments. Bitter Creek is about love, love of land, of people, and of the lasting love between Clay and his Granddad, Frank.