Fortune's Daughter is a sweeping portrait of an era, a narrative rich in character, history, violence and compassion. Eliza rebels against the rigidity of the patriarchy (community) and realizes that she must set herself a new goal.  Allende smoothly expands the geographical boundaries of his work, simultaneously turning the latter into a historical novel, and interests the reader in four cultures at once: English, Chilean, Chinese and American, against the backdrop of which the 1849 gold rush takes place in California. An orphan is raised in Valparaiso, a Chilean city, by a Victorian-era unmarried woman and her stern brother. Cheerful young Eliza Sommers follows her lover to California during the height of the 1849 Gold Rush. Finding herself in the chaotic life of recently arrived people who are completely obsessed with gold, Eliza penetrates deeper and deeper into the society of bachelors and prostitutes with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chien. California gives a young Chilean woman the opportunity to start a new, free and independent life, and her search for her elusive lover gradually turns into a journey of a slightly different plan. By the time she finally hears news about the young man, Eliza must decide which of them is her true love.  In Elisa, Allende has created one of her most compelling heroines, an adventurous, and very unconventional young woman with an independent spirit who has the courage to rediscover herself and create her destiny in a new country. In truth, Allende's work is a novel of changes that internally transform his characters.