1921 in Texas was a time of abundance. The Great War was over, the bounty of the land was plentiful, and America was on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry when marriage was a woman's only option, the future seemed bleak. One night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change her life. With her reputation in ruins, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

By 1934, the world had changed. Millions were out of work and drought had devastated the Great Plains. Farmers were trying desperately to keep their land and livelihoods as crops failed and dust storms rolled across the plains. On the Martinelli farm, everything was dying, including Elsa's tenuous marriage. Each day was a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

This novel stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it. This novel is a portrait of the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indominable woman whose courage and sacrifice would come to define a generation.