Places enchant Katherine Lunden. She dreams of traveling throughout the United States and perhaps abroad. Katherine considers her home in the rural logging country of Wisconsin to be boring and lacking possible opportunities for her future. She lives near Maustone, the county seat of Juneau County. Lunden Woods in that area is named for her ancestors who arrived there before the American Revolution concluded. For generations, Lundens have harvested Wisconsin timber, and descendants are expected to live their entire lives there.

Although Katherine's family indulged in building a plank house, she is dissatisfied with her surroundings. She says that newspapers revealed "there was a whole world out there and a million ways to live in it."

A train journey sets Katherine on the first eight months of her life away from Wisconsin. The train represents freedom and excitement to her. Katherine often visited the train station in Maustone...