The open ranch country of New Mexico is the setting of this novel. Texas is growing up on her grandfather's rundown ranch and shares his dream of rehabilitating the debt-ridden and unproductive land. Neither her widowed mother, her younger sister, nor her grandmother share this dream. To them life in the city appears much more comfortable and appealing. When grandpa dies, leaving his ranch to Texas, the family pressures her to sell it so they can move, but Texas knows that this is not what grandpa wanted, and she stubbornly refuses, staying behind when her mother and grandmother leave for town.

Texas has not only inherited her grandfather's estate; she is also heir to his stubbornness and prejudices, such as the feud with some Mexican neighbors whom grandpa believed to have designs on his land. Texas is only too willing to continue the quarrel, and she distrusts the...