With three young children at her side, Sarah Ann arrives in the beautiful upper John Day Valley of Oregon in 1869, a young widow whose husband had disappeared in an Indian raid on their way west. In 1870 she remarries and rears her nine children. On her one trip back to New York, she discovers she has been living a lie. The truth liberates her from the stoic nature she has portrayed toward others and the last quarter of the century becomes the backdrop for a modern woman of subtle influence. Sarah Ann shares her wisdom with her family and community while never disclosing her secret.