Central Kansas Library System

A pioneer father transports his beloved fruit trees and his family to Oregon in the mid-nineteenth century. Based loosely on the life of Henderson Luelling.

Charlie Keller has trouble feeling at home after his abolitionist father, wanting to cast a vote for freedom, moves his family from Massachusetts to the Kansas Territory which is on the verge of deciding whether to enter the Union as a free or a slave state.

Charlie Keller must prove that he can help his mother and sisters survive a Kansas blizzard while his father helps the free-soil settlers in Lawrence to defend their town from proslavery forces.