Plum Creek is a historical novel set in nineteenth-century Texas. It is a coming-of-age story involving Billy McCulloch, a fifteen-year old boy who accompanies a former Texas Ranger, a black man, and two of his uncles on a quest to rescue a fourteen-year-old girl. The girl was captured by a band of renegades led by a half-breed Comanche killer aft er they slaughtered the rest of her family in a raid on their home in rural Central Texas. Th e pursuit of the renegades is set against a backdrop of post-Civil War Texas, just beginning to recover from the devastation of war and Reconstruction. Th e character of the former Texas Ranger is loosely based on John Coffee Hays, known as Jack Hays, who was called "Devil Yack" by many Mexican and Native American people because of the fame he won fighting in the Mexican War and, before and after, fighting the Comanches. As Billy and the older men ride, Texas is emerging into a new age around them. A new social structure is taking hold, the old ways of life are dying, and the future is uncertain.

It is the mid 1870s, and the railroad being built westward toward San Antonio will eventually connect Texas to California. Luling, one of the towns springing up along the route, is the end of the line for a year or so. Established in 1874 a few miles east of the San Marcos River, Luling is a melting pot of humanity. Later known as the toughest town in Texas, it is a haven for gamblers, outlaws, and 'ladies of the night.'Hardeman Lodge follows some of the characters introduced in Plum Creek (TCU Press, 2016) as they meet the challenges that life presents them. Billy McCulloch faces some tough moral choices as he embarks upon the practice of law. Ada Adams and Everett Hardeman become engulfed in a crisis arising from her marriage to a cruel husband. And the indomitable Lily Poe is forced to deal with tragedy. In spite of lingering racial prejudice and streaks of lawlessness, principles of justice and fair play still live in the hearts of most of the characters who come near Hardeman Lodge.