Running from a terrible past, Samantha Martin fakes being a boy and seeks asylum in the zombie-ridden western frontier. The Great Undead Uprising of 1870 devastated the western frontier and destroyed the Indian Nations. Though the Army was able to contain the menace before it could devour the entire country, the United States lost claim to her western territories as the survivors fled to the relative safety of the east coast.

Running from her past and hiding as a boy, Samantha Martin is thrust into the service of the skin trade-the terrible deed of trapping and skinning zombies for profit. Along the way she finds out what it takes to be a man, why she misses being a woman, and most importantly what it means to be human.