Born in the back of a wagon while fleeing the battle at Gettysburg in 1863, Sally Anne Hamilton is left fatherless when a freak accident takes her father's life. Moving on to Cleveland, Ohio to avoid the war, Sally Anne's mother, Annie Lee, does what she can to provide for them both, but mostly herself. When Sally Anne is fifteen years old, she is married off to a young man she does not know in order for her mother to be free to marry the boy's uncle. The suggestion was for the newlyweds to move west. For two years Sally Anne and her husband Hank lived wonderful lives, building a home on the range together. When their lives took a critical turn for the worst, Sally Anne was left angry, and alone.