Joely Richardson plays a con artist who changes identities faster than most women change hair color. Going on the lam with her daughter (Hayden Panettiere), she scams her way into a prosperous marriage and, when that union sours, pulls off a murder scheme that may be her very last con.

A story set against the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the film is based upon the tragedy which occurred in Utah in 1857. A group of settlers, traveling on wagons, was murdered by the native Mormons. All together, about 140 souls of men, women and children, were taken.