When her pastor arrives at her doorstep with David Harper, a stranger looking for work, the young widow, Rachel Miller, agrees to provide room and board in exchange for help on her Missouri farm. As David prepares to travel with the 1843 wagon train across the Oregon Trail, he proposes marriage to Rachel. Her decision to accept is based on her need for a husband and a father for her three young children. The hardships of the journey west can either bring the couple together or destroy hopes of ever having a marriage based on love. Can Rachel overcome her guilt at re-marrying so soon after her husband’s tragic death?
The story of six families bonding throughout the trip creates an authentic view of the early settlers and their ordeals in expanding this nation in the nineteenth century.
Though the main characters are fictional, the events were taken from journals, diaries, and memoirs of the actual brave travelers. This is the story of 1843 migration across this vast country by wagon train. Some of the notable people mentioned are historical figures.