SUMMARY DREAMS OF APPALOOSAS A LOVE STORY When Allison Howard's millionaire husband, her stepsons, and their best Appaloosa horses die in a suspicious truck accident, she is left alone with her young son to run their historic Windhorse Ranch in Montana. Overwhelmed by grief and fear, she is not only suspected of killing her beloved husband for his money, but a former lover turned stalker suddenly reappears and their remaining horses are viciously slashed in the night. Allison, 37, a successful California painter and avid horsewoman, deeply in love with her older husband, refuses to accept his death or give up their dream of an Appaloosa sanctuary to honor Nez Perce Indians murdered on their ranch at the famous Battle of the Big Hole. Instead, she creates an alternate world through paintings, letters, and dreams so she can carry on their love affair for eternity. While her older sister, an aggressive LA prosecuting attorney, fears Allison is losing her mind, Allison is supported by local friends and her ranch foreman, a wise old Mexican shaman with a foot in both worlds. Fighting to keep her son and horses safe, Allison begins her defining work, a huge triptych, "Dreams of Appaloosas," but first she must confront her husband's murderer who is much closer than she ever imagined.