In 1909, after spending several months back at the Lovell House Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Boys, eleven-year-old Gib returns to live on the Thornton ranch, where his natural way with horses helps to make him feel at home.
Josefina and her sisters distrust learning to read and write, as well as other changes their T?a Dolores is bringing to the household, because they fear they will lose their memories of their mother.
