Cristiana Marie Quaale lost her mother at birth. Initially, her grief-stricken and nearly overwhelmed father did not know what to do with a child, but with the help of extended family became the kind of dad most girls only dream of.
This is a story of familial bonds and rural farm life on desert lands east of the Cascade Range. Though Cristy's home was a former stagecoach stop located ten miles north of Madras, Oregon, her unique experience also touches on the universals of small-town ranch life in the years following World War II.