Cassiday Curran's wagon has just been hijacked by three bedraggled strangers on their way to Dodge City. On the run from an abusive husband, Cassiday agrees to share her wagon with the thieves as they search for their uncle.

Meg Brennon knows that her new life at her road ranch in Paragon Springs, Kansas, can't truly begin until she severs all ties with the abusive husband she'd fled years before. Although fearful, she returns to St. Louis determined to find him and obtain a divorce. But Ted Malloy refuses, hoping that Meg's return will win him his dying father's favor, and fortune.

A hard, high plains life has turned refined southern lady Aurelia Symington into a work-toughened, capable woman determined to give her best to those she loves. Aurelia is chosen president of the town company when the residents decide they must make the community of Paragon Springs into a real town or move elsewhere.

Lucy Walsh's heart remains with the struggling town of Paragon Springs, but she feels beholden to her husband, Admire, to make the Run to the Cherokee Strip for new land. Admire married her when few men would have, and raised her half-Sioux daughter, Rachel, as his own.