May's story is an actual account of a young woman's life in the 1870's. She finds true love, marries, and starts a family. As pioneers they travel to Colorado in a covered wagon to seek their fortune in the West. They battle pestilence and hardships of raising a family on the frontier as farmers. Going from place to place, May wishes for a home to stay and educate their children. She also wants her sister to live near her. The story is described in her letters to her sister and mother. "You do not know all the bitter trials and temptations which are all around me and with which I try so hard to battle bravely. Twice within the last year have I been tempted most bitterly." "When we got here and bought a stove and a few dishes and provisions we had just sixty-five cents left. So you see we are starting at the foot of the ladder again, but I have never felt more hopeful and ambitious in my life than I do this spring." "You can hardly conceive with what feelings I greeted him after so many long months of separation. It seemed almost like the dead come back to life, and to see him looking so well and handsome did me good more that I can tell. "