Widow Serena Gustafson returns to Pomme de Terre where her husband was killed during the Sioux Uprising. Her dreams of financial independence dissolve when land values plummet after a scourge of Rocky Mountain locusts. Serena must release the past before she can embrace her future. Evan Jacobson, homesteading in nearby Otter Tail County, takes a job driving mules over the Wadsworth Trail. While Evan is on the road, newlyweds Anders and Ragna Vollen stay with Evan's family. Increasing Indian tensions in Dakota Territory threaten to spill over into Minnesota, renewing old fears and bitter memories from the 1862 Uprising. (Series conclusion.)