Emmy-Lou Waters and Gilbert Milligan have been writing a great many letters declaring their love for each other, and the lovely young girl's eccentric Aunt Beryl has just about warmed to the idea they might marry. But for the longest time, Emmy-Lou's rich banker father refuses to consider it. He plans to marry Emmy-Lou off to the vain, foppish son of a powerful railroad owner, to forge an alliance between the two families. Unable to get Emmy-Lou to see things his way, her father consents to travel with the girl and her kind aunt to Come-By-Chance, to meet Gilbert for himself, and find a way to discredit the boy. But along the trail from Billings to Come-By-Chance, their party is held up by the desperate outlaw Slim Jim Murdoch Will Gilbert lose his dear Emmy-Lou before she even arrives? Will Slim Jim hold the girl and her dear aunt for ransom? Or will some other dastardly plan be set in motion, a plan that will put everyone in the entire town in deadly peril? Emmy-Lou CAN be read as a standalone book, but once you're done, you'll want to read all the other stories in the much-loved Come-By-Chance series.