From the Newbery-Award winning author of Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife´s Apprentice comes the story of an orphan on the American frontier who decides to go west--with nothing but gumption as her guide. Sally O´Malley is an orphan working at a mineral spring hotel in the woods of central Oregon--that is, until she´s chucked out like chewed-on chicken bones, due entirely to an unfortunate incident with a pig and some church ladies. And so Sally decides to head west to the sea. Glorious, she´s heard. Fierce, she´s heard. Why not see for herself? Before long Sally encounters a dangerous bobcat--and that´s just the first day! Safe in the knowledge that she´s fearless, she continues on her journey with no place to belong and no one to depend on. And that´s just fine with her. Then a lady called Major, an old donkey, a loyal dog, and an abominable brat show Sally that she´s not quite as brave as she thinks. It turns out that counting on someone else is the scariest thing of all.