November 11, 1945 . . . eighty-five year old retired school teacher, Stephanie Tyler, reveals the secret she has kept for the last seventy years. In 1875 Auburn, California, fifteen year old Stephanie befriended an alien family that must hide and protect their three children until they can all reach adulthood. As the ancient legend of their world had prophesized, a powerful race would come to their world and enslave them all for the wealth their world possessed. But there was hope . . . born to one family, there would be a girl, a boy, and then another girl, with gifts far beyond the others so blessed. If they reached adulthood, they could combine those gifts to free their home world from the slavery, and the domination of this savage and brutal race, a race that relentlessly pursued them across space. In less time than Stephanie had left in her school year, she would change from a girl to a woman, and the way she viewed life and the universe would change forever.