"1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck - in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the fifty apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of...

In 1849, a twelve-year-old girl who calls herself Lucy is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a small California mining town, where Lucy helps run a rough boarding house and looks for comfort in books while trying to find a way to get "home."

1875. Cuando Kathryn Walsh llega al pequño pueblo minero de Calvada en Sierra Nevada, enamorarse no figura en su imaginacíon. Desterrada de Boston por su padrastro rico, ella llega a reclamar una herencia del ̕to que nunca conocía una oficina de períodico desaparecido en una calle principal rebosante de burdeles y salones, y una mina aparentemente sin valor alguno. Conmovida por la opresíon de los mineros locales y sus familias, Kathryn decide...

"In 1846 the Reed and Donner families leave Illinois on a 2,000-mile journey to California in search of free land and a healthy climate. Thirteen-year-old Virginia Reed is thrilled to ride ahead of the wagons each day beside her adored father. But enthusiasm turns to alarm when her father and other party leaders make decisions that put the families dangerously behind schedule. Provisions dwindle. Hardships mount. Anger erupts. In a frantic effort...

After her family moves to California where her father goes to work in the gold fields, Amanda decides to make her own fortune baking pies and she encourages others to provide the necessary services--from a general store to a school--that enables her town to prosper.

Joshua Roberts goes West to seek his fortune, but he finds trouble instead.

In 1881, the scrappy, rough-and-tumble baseball team in a California mining town enlists the help of a quick-witted twelve-year-old orphan and the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid to win a big game against the National League Champion Chicago White Stockings.

Penny, a blue-eyed palomino paint mare, narrates her experiences with her owner, Buckeye Jack, and Jack's grandson, Jesse, during the 1850s Northern California gold rush.