Mountain Partners — Morgan Wood

Pennsylvania farm boy Jasper Beecher is forced to flee his home when his sexuality is discovered. Just sixteen, he is robbed and almost kidnapped as he moves along three of Americas' great rivers. Working always to protect his secret he races cross the plains on horse back retreating into the seclusion of the Rocky Mountains. The Arapaho Brave Blue Cloud feels betrayed when his love marries another and the Tribal Elders allow a Catholic Priest to condemn men like him; the 'two-souls' people. His normal allegiance to 'the people' is minimized so that he too leaves for a place of solitude. Originally unknown to each other, these two soon join together in the same hidden valley where they learn the truth about themselves and the many other partners who have come to live in these mountains rather than face the hostility of the culture below.