Hunter of Dreams is the story of the so-called Underground Railroad, the escape route to Canada of American slaves in the 1850s and early '60s. The driving force behind Canadian involvement was Dr. Alexander Milton Ross of Belleville, Ontario, an extraordinary character, but one relatively unknown except to historians specializing in his era.

Alexander Ross travelled in the Deep South, using his background in ornithology as a pretense at doing research. In reality, he was alerting slaves to the existence of the Underground Railroad and in the process, faced a number of dangerous situations. As well, he was involved on the fringes of John Brown's famous raid on Harpers Ferry.

His work brought him to the attention of Abraham Lincoln, who commissioned him as a special agent to monitor the Confederate activities in Canada during the Civil War. Ross's work, declared Lincoln, shortened the Civil War by the better part of a year.

Hunter of Dreamsreveals the story of the relatively unknown Alexander Ross, based on his own memoirs and contemporary magazine and newspaper articles; it is cast as a novel, told through James Ramsay, an imaginary friend of Dr. Ross's.