No one plays the game like Jack London. Only eleven years old, she can pickpocket and flummox any unsuspecting rube who wanders into the muck of the Barbary Coast.

All Jack's skills are tested when one of her own falls ill and she pinches a gold pocketwatch to pay for a doctor. The watch belongs to the richest man in San Francisco, and it plunges Jack into a whole world of trouble. She soon finds herself on the run from rival gangs, corrupt coppers, and the ruthless, self-proclaimed King of the Barbary Coast.