Far west of the raging Civil War, a family of brilliant engineers construct impossible contraptions on their ranch, isolated deep in the mountains of Wyoming.  The boldest of them is Jackalope: a feral girl whose "jolt engine" flying machine takes her deep into thunder clouds, in search of an elusive energy source that is fast transforming the 19th century with its explosive power. But when her home is violated and family seized by a calamitous evil, Jack resolves to liberate them by traveling East: toward the raging war, into the Big City, and across the path of an insurmountable rival. In a deadly race for her family's lives, this young ranch girl must in short order become that which she has always aspired to be: the greatest Jolt Jockey in the world.