Sophia Makinoff is certain 1876 is the year that sheтАЩll become the wife of a certain US Congressman, and happily plans her debut into the Capitol city. But when he proposes to her roommate instead, Sophia is stunned. Hoping to flee her heartache and humiliation, she signs up with the Board of Foreign Missions on a whim.
With dreams of a romantic posting to the Far East, Sophia is dismayed to find sheтАЩs being sent to the Ponca Indian Agency in the bleak Dakota Territory. She canтАЩt even run away effectively and begins to wonder how on earth sheтАЩll be able to guide others as a missionary. But teaching the Ponca children provides her with a joy she has never knownтАФand never expectedтАФand ignites in her a passion for the people sheтАЩs sent to serve.
ItтАЩs a passion shared by the Agency carpenter, Willoughby Dunn, a man whose integrity and selflessness are unmatched. The Poncas are barely surviving. When US policy decrees that they be uprooted from their land and marched hundreds of miles away in the middle of winter, Sophia and Will wade into rushing waters to fight for their friends, their love, and their destiny.