Samurai of Gold Hill begins in the Year of the Serpent, 1869, in Wakamatsu, a town in northern Japan's BandaiAzuma mountains. The castle of Lord Matsudaira.has been gutted by fire but still looms over Wakamatsu. Many samurai warriors have perished in the battle to defend Wakamatsu, and Lord Matsudaira himself has been imprisoned. Entrusted with a secret mission on behalf of Lord Matsudaira, Koichi's father—Matsuzaka, Gentai (the surname goes first in Japanes e names)—gathers together the companions he will need for a great adventure. Koichi, trained to be a samurai and to obey his leader without asking any questions, journeys with his father to the bustling port city of Yokohama; he is filled with curiosity about his father's mission but waits until his father chooses to reveal the secret plan.

Eventually Koichi learns that his father plans to establish a colony in California to...