Sarah Howlett, forced by her family’s circumstances to emigrate to Canada in 1908, trades the factories of Birmingham for the lone prairie north of Saskatoon. Despite the weather, the privations and the unwanted attentions of no fewer than three remittance-men, all of whom are encouraged by mischievous relatives, she learns to train horses, shoot a rifle with accuracy and raise cattle. Correspondence courses and the companionship of a soft-spoken, sweet-tempered Quaker provide her with the moral and psychological strength to make her own way through the world and contribute to it as her strength allows.