Publisher's Synopsis
In the American West in the 1850s, pioneer women are struggling with broken hearts and minds as they face bitter hardships. A 'homesman' must be found to escort a handful of these women back east to a sanatorium. Not exactly a job people are lining up for, it falls to Mary Bee Cuddy, an ex-teacher and spinster who is indomitable, resourceful, and 'plain as an old tin pail'. Mary Bee knows she can't make it alone, so she takes along her only available companion: the lowlife claim-jumper George Briggs. Thus begins a trek east against the tide of colonization, Indian attacks, ice storms, loneliness, and the unceasing aggravation of a disparate group of mad women. This is the tale of their journey, and a tribute to the men and women who homesteaded the frontier.
