It’s 1935, and the hard times of the Great Depression, it seems, are here to stay. One day, MaryJake’s whole family packs up in the car and leaves—and after a couple hours’ drive, MaryJake finds herself alone on the edge of the road. So begins the adventure of an abandoned girl who chooses her own path.
Page Williams is leaving behind her dad and the only home she’s ever known, heading for Texas and Big Bend National Park. Page is reluctant and angry—but when she is greeted by her new schoolmates, a mountain lion named Carmencita, and a family of skunks, she discovers there is much more to her new neighborhood than dry heat and rattlesnakes.