"Get to Independence Rock by the Fourth of July if you want to make it through the mountains before the snow flies." Gloriana Jude is a Kentucky girl determined to be part of manifest destiny; her goal to march across a continent to make her stamp on history. Risking everything, she and her husband and son leave the narrow hollows and sheltering hills of Wolf Creek, resolved to make a home in the West. Catastrophe waits at every river crossing; disease and destitution strike the unwary. When a head injury to her husband threatens their trip, she wonders if the risks outweigh the rewards. An Army patrol is there to lend security to the wagon train, but there's an Army scout who has her feeling anything but secure. At Fort Laramie, she meets Gregor, disinherited by his family and cast out to die. Who can she trust? Is this too much for a girl from Wolf Creek? Will they make it across the mountains in time?

The West has always been known as a place of starting over and Arizona Territory in the early 1870's was no different. Growing up caring for an ill mother and two young sisters, Cherry Brown does her best to keep her family together. When her mother dies and her stepfather is murdered, she and her sisters are left to the care of her uncle and stepbrother. Life on the ranch becomes unbearable and though she can't read or write and has few skills, she decides to start over in Tucson, forty miles north. Taking a chance on being discovered by the Apache is worth the risk. But when black smoke billows from Big Rock Canyon, she knows she must go back. Once she gets to Tucson, saloon owner Belle Forest gives her a job and a place to stay and gamblers Temple Hardy and Keg Williams befriend the girl. When she saves the life of Lieutenant John Harlan in a flash flood, the desire for a husband and family comes to the fore. Will it be the Army officer or someone else who holds for her the Hope of Heaven?

The West is a hard place to make a life, have a family and build a future. Indians have been moved to the reservations, the railroad has come to town, but life in Texas 1876 is still wild and woolly. On the Double H Ranch, Ruth Holbrook has come to visit her uncle, aunt and cousin. A neighboring rancher's sheep is stampeded over a cliff and on the east side of the ranch a wildfire nearly destroys the Diamond W. Are these natural occurrences or is someone trying to drive them out? Finding the truth won't be easy; who can you trust? Quin Smith, whose gun looks a little worn for a peaceable man, Sunny Bill, who will fight for what he believes in, or Ford Holbrook, the rancher who has built the Double H from the ground up? Or maybe Clair Ransome, the railroad man with eyes for Ruth? Alongside their men are the Holbrook women: Ruth, has she fallen in love with the West or a man? Ginny, the belle of the valley with her stylish clothes and cultured ways is looking for a man like her father. And, Anne Holbrook, standing by her man, regardless of what comes their way. These men and women know what they want and they won't settle for less. Death can come from fire, flood, stampede or gunshot. Will heaven bend down and rescue them before it's too late?

Moultrie is a prairie town fighting for a foothold on the plains of North Dakota. When her best friend heads west as a mail order bride, Millicent Ball joins her, in a bid to escape her past. Forging a new beginning is her goal. Though there are men willing to help her forget, marriage isn't on her mind. In her situation, love is impossible and she knows it, yet there's one man who dares. Can Millie let go of the past and grab hold of the future? Or will she always be looking at shadows, hiding her heart and ready to run at the slightest alarm? What about Rafe Moultrie, a big man made bigger by the events of his life. Falling in love with Millie wasn't his plan. Will he stand aside for his son or will he follow his heart? Past and future demand a final reckoning in Moultrie.