In 1879 Mark Twain meets the young painter John Singer Sargent aboard a
steamer from the Sandwich Islands to San Francisco. But it is not our
San Francisco, our California, or our 1879. In this universe, everything
south of the Russian River is an independent Spanish-speaking country
called Alta California. Everything north of the river is Rossland, ruled
by Imperial Russia. These powerful states are flush with Sierra gold,
while the United States is just a weak neighbor on the other side of the
Mississippi. Mark Twain is supplementing the meager royalties from Tom
Sawyer by lecturing on "Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands."
John Singer Sargent tours with him, sketching and painting the sights
and trying to get a portrait commission from Twain. Told in the first
person voices of Twain and Sargent, illustrated with their sketches,
paintings and photos, this is a tale about friendship, ideology, culture
clash, and what it means to be an artist.