This straightforward and heartbreaking account is based on the personal diaries of Miriam Colt, written as she and her family traveled from New York to Kansas in 1856 to join the Vegetarian Society settlement in a prairie utopia. The Colts began their journey happy and hopeful, but upon their arrival discovered "all was not right." No mills or homes were built, fellow settlers were leaving in droves, and the myriad challenges included Indian attacks and thievery, foul weather, and devastating illness. On the Colts' disappointed journey out of the Territory, Miriam's husband and four-year-old son both succumbed to fever, leaving Miriam and her small daughter to carry on alone. Through it all, Mrs. Colt never failed to appreciate the kindness of neighbors and strangers and the natural beauty of the day and countryside around her.