Publisher's Synopsis
In 1798, Callie Trent travels with her parents in a wagon train to the frontier of Tennessee. Before they reach the settlement where they will live, her father tells her he has arranged a marriage with her and Jacob McGinnis, a man she has never met. Callie objects to the marriage, and when she meets Jacob, he is not so bad, but she has come to the mountains to teach the children in the settlement, not to get married.
Before they reach the settlement, they are attacked by three of the meanest men from the ridge, three Melungeons. Callie learns about the Melungeons and becomes interested in their history. No one knows when they came to the ridge. They are strange in physical appearance and in their ways. She befriends one family and teaches them how to read and write.
Jacob loves Callie and wants to marry her, but she does not encourage him. She wants to teach school before she marries, but the three Melungeon men have other plans for her.
