Continuing the story of the Benson-Stone family, Sarah Benson, not yet eighteen leaves her family and the small New England community where she was raised.
Sarah is the only one who knows she is pregnant when she boards the train heading west in 1898. She travels with James, a man she loves but barely knows, and his dreams of becoming a cowboy become her own. Against her parent's wishes, she leaves behind her stifling family home in New Hampshire and with the idealism and naivety of youth, they board a train, for a life-changing adventure in the Arizona Frontier.
On the way, Sarah tells James about the baby and when they arrive in Flagstaff, they marry. Soon a rancher offers James and Sarah work on an isolated ranch. Sarah grows to love her independence and the wide-open skies of the west, but James's
drinking and gambling cause a rift between them. After her daughter is born, her marriage to James begins to unravel, and James becomes violent. Sarah
flees to her parents, hoping to make up for past mistakes, but realizes that New Hampshire is no longer where she belongs.
A yearning for the west and the possibility to live free and love again takes her back to Arizona for a final confrontation with James and the chance to build a life she can embrace on her own terms.
This is the second book in a historical fiction series, Hannah's Legacy. Sarah Benson is the eldest daughter of Hannah Stone, the matriarch of the Benson/Stone family from
After the Storm
.
Readers who enjoyed the novels of Nancy Turner, Janette Oke, Kristin Hannah, and Robyn Carr, will love this story.