After the new status quo is set for the series, with Toby's fiance leaving him and his unknown illegitimate daughter Janessa being taken to Oregon as the last act of her dying Cherokee mother, it continues with new West Point graduate Henry Blake arriving in France to observe the siege of Paris by Prussian forces, with the American observers there desperate for any information they can see to their superiors. After settling family matters, Toby begins his attempts to have a lumber company in Wisconsin, only to arrive there just days before the Great Chicago Fire occurs.
- Artistic License – History:
- Toby and Mary White Owl met in 1861 at a Union hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which caused Janessa to be born later that year. Even without the Continuity Snarl mentioned below, the Union army did not capture Memphis until June 1862
- In the novel the Great Chicago Fire took place soon after Paris fell to the Germans in 1871; it was actually 8 months later.
- The Baroness: Gisela von Kirchberg is a Sexpot but her age difference to Henry gives her traces of a Rosa Klebb.
- Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: Sam Brentwood requested being buried in an unmarked grave along the Oregon Trail.
- Camp Follower: During their first meeting the Baroness warns Henry about the camp followers along the Prussian lines, and Henry assures her he avoids them entirely.
- Cliffhanger: How badly is Timmy hurt at the end of the novel.
- Continuity Snarl: The switchover to a new author in Illinois! caused problems.
- The first was the introduction of Janessa, who was said to be born in 1861; due to her father having not yet left on the eastbound wagon train until after the start of the Civil War (April 1861) in Nevada!. There is simply not enough time for him to travel all the way to the other side of the country, get reassigned to another theatre in war, and then get Janessa's mother pregnant in time for Janessa to be born in 1861.
- Henry in Utah! began four years of West Point in the fall of 1868, yet had graduated in time to serve in Paris as a 2nd Lieutenant for the end of the Franco-Prussian war in the spring of 1871...less than 3 years later.
- Damsel in Distress: Toby has to save Majorie from a fiery doom due to her concentrating more on her profession than on her personal safety.
- Firefighting Episode: Toby and Ted end up assisting in trying to stop the great Chicago fire, with Toby being the one that had the plan that successfully ended it.
- The Great Fire: None other than the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 is the cause of Toby and friends' peril.
- Healing Herb: Janessa was taught by Mary the herbal medicine of the Cherokee. Toby and Janessa begin their bonding by finding a permanent place for her to store her herbs.
- Killed Offscreen: The true villain of the previous novel was noted to have been killed by his mistress from a headline Toby read in a newspaper; Toby never learned that the murder victim was ever an enemy of his.
- Mrs. Robinson: Gisela mixes this with the Baroness trope.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Ted Woods Taylor was named by his father Danny Taylor due to his friendship with Ted Woods, whose son Frank Woods will be in charge of the logging camp.
- New Child Left Behind: Toby and Mary White Owl had no idea she was pregnant when he left the hospital.
- Remarried to the Mistress: Averted. Toby planned to marry Martha, but she told him she was going to marry someone else.
- Put on the Bus: When a new author took over many long-lasting characters were never mentioned again. Martha was the only one who had any kind of send off.
- Spin-Offspring: Henry Blake became the second most important protagonist in the series, after Toby, starting with this book. Also, Toby's children would each have small story plots moving on until they became the central protagonists in the follow-up series The Holts years later.
- Spoiler Cover: The cover when the novel was printed in the 1980s clearly shows Toby and some woman with a camera being endangered by flames all around them.
- Unknown Relative The Holts did not know about the existence of Janessa until she was nine years old.
- The Von Trope Family: Baroness Gisela von Kirchberg married into her name, and after her widowhood proceeded to accomplish the goal of becoming the richest woman in Europe.
