With his father and brother serving in the Confederate Army and the rest of his family murdered in a Comanche raid of their west Texas farm, 13-year-old Lewallen seeks to free himself and his younger sister from their Indian captivity.
In the years 1893, sensible thirteen-year-old Melinda, finding herself stranded in the Colorado town of Goldendale, promptly becomes involved in the townspeople's lives and assorted problems.