In the badlands of the North American west in the late 1800s, a young woman, Miette, embarks on a quest to find the mother who abandoned her: the notorious Calamity Jane. Miette knows Jane only as an infamous soldier, drinker and exhibition shooter, but she sets out nonetheless across a landscape peopled with madwomen, thieves, minstrels and ghosts, each of them adding to the story of her famous mother.
As Miette makes her inevitable way to Deadwood, South Dakota, history and myth collide to create a picture of a remarkable woman who shattered the expectations of her time, and of a daughter who must confront the truth of her past. Blending fiction with real conversations and events, In Calamity's Wake transports us, through vividly crafted atmosphere and seductive storytelling, to a Wild West we've never seen before.