Hope City is the adventure story of Samuel Rothman and his best friend, Liam Kampen, two teenage boys from San Francisco who, in the summer of 1898, venture into the goldfields of the Alaskan wilderness.

Warned by his father to conceal his Jewish heritage from the ruffians he may encounter, Samuel changes his name to the less conspicuous Percy Hope. This fateful decision gives a yet-unnamed mining village a new identity and catapults Percy into a world where the good and the righteous must face greedy and ruthless adversaries.

Along a waterway known as Turnagain Arm, the newly named Hope City and the more established Sunrise are like opposite sisters. The good and virtuous Hope, with a Catholic church led by the influential Reverend O'Hara, admonishes residents against committing the seven deadly sins. In Sunrise, villainous saloon owner Magnus Vega tempts prospectors with whiskey, gambling, and women.

Hope City weaves the tale of a young man falling down a proverbial rabbit hole of unexpected toils and hardships and struggling to find his way back out, amid a wild and unforgiving environment where ambitious men and women seek their fortunes.