Rachel wonders if she'll ever be happy again. Her grandparents are loving and wonderful, but the mountains of Tennessee are a strange and lonely place for a young orphaned girl from Nashville. Would she ever fit in among the mountain people who ride horses, farm the land, and believe that at fifteen, Rachel should prepare for marriage. Rachel begins to understand as she learns the art of folk medecine and rides the rugged mountain trails to save lives. As the Civil War rages in the land, romance comes into her life with all its happiness and anguish.