The eleven members of the Bradley family are clannishly close and solidly unified. At least they are until the oldest son, Thomas, breathes the name of Texas. When the family, in 1822, leaves the mountains of Kentucky for the wildness of what is northern Mexico, the matriarch, Elizabeth, climbs aboard the wagon nurturing a seething anger toward her son and her husband, Edward. In stonefaced silence, she feeds her bitterness mile after plodding mile. It takes her sister-in-law, Polly Boone Bradley, to make Elizabeth appreciate what she has rather than grieve for what she is losing. In time, as she sees her nine children thrive, Elizabeth comes to accept the raw new country, but it will be tragedy that finally gives her the heart of a Texan. When Letty, the headstrong seventh Bradley child, falls in love with her brother's partner, Brax Hall, and marries him, it seems a perfect union. And so it is in spite of Brax's older brother, Warren. Rich, educated and politically influential, Warren is also narcissistically self-absorbed. He allows nothing, nor anyone, to stand in the way of what he wants. A chain of events, triggered by Warren, forces Letty to leave her beloved family, and Texas, in order to protect her son. For seven years, she must call the Louisiana bayou country home, but, just as trouble forced her out of Texas, trouble gives her no choice but to return. Her fear begins as soon as she crosses the Sabine River, and it grows with each mile the wagon bumps east along the La Bahia Road.