Sophia has her life all planned outbut her plan didnt include being jilted or ending up in Dakota Territory. Sophia Makinoff is certain that 1876 is the year that shell 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 shes being sent to the Ponca Indian Agency in the bleak Dakota Territory. She cant even run away effectively and begins to wonder how on earth shell be able to guide others as a missionary. But teaching the Ponca children provides her with a joy she has never knownand never expectedand ignites in her a passion for the people shes sent to serve. Its 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.
