Jonathan had managed to escape from the pirates on the great river of the west that a century later would be called The Columbia. It took all his strength to swim to shore and fall into the brush along the back, unconscious from exposure and exhaustion. Lily, a half British and half Chinook girl, found him there as she was carrying out her plan to escape, or die trying, from her Cayuse captors.

Together the two flee from the Indians and pirates high into the Cascade Mountain Range with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Through difficulty and danger, they encounter God as they have never experienced Him before. And they come to grips with those things that bring true significance to life. These first adventures of Jonathan and Lily are recounted in David Young's riveting debut novel, IN THE WILDERNESS.