This novel begins with a woman helping her elderly neighbor move into a retirement home. The elderly lady keeps giving her heirlooms to the woman, knowing the woman is a collector of antiques and an armchair historian. One of the things she passes along is her grandmother's diary -- a journal kept when the grandmother, Mattie, travelled West with her husband to set up a homestead in the Colorado Territory. The rest of the novel is the diary itself -- a marvelous story that made me think constantly of the "Little House" books. I really enjoyed this novel a lot and look forward to reading Dallas's other books. Highly recommended to anyone who misses the Ingalls or loves stories about strong women pioneers.