Faith and Tilley Hall endure unimaginable hardship and betrayal, after what they thought will be a trip to Roanoke, Virginia with their estranged father, Tillis Grasdon to meet their grandmother, Agnes Grasdon, turns into a test of endurance. They boarded the train in Wilmington, North Carolina, as their mother walks away from all responsibility to the eight-year-old twins. Tillis Grasdon has promised the girls will be well taken care of, for his mother can afford to give them everything she could not. Even thought she knew he is a selfish drunk, she believes his mother will take her beautiful copper-haired daughters, giving them everything high society could afford. Tillis Grasdon is drunk or pretending to be asleep all day as the girls run up and down the aisles between cars. Tilley realizes the danger as she takes Faith back to wait for Papa to wake, then take them to the dining car. Tillis wanted everyone to see the girls are unruly, so he will have a perfect alibi, for in the hundred yards from the passenger car, to the dining car, the girls disappear. The year is 1875 and it is springtime in Bedford County. The terrain is rough and the area uninhabited, but for a abundance of wildlife, including bears. Faith sees her sister flying though the air, behind her, but Tilley didn't land as easily as she had. Tilley looks to be dead, bleeding from her head. Agnes Grasdon will never know she has grandchildren, for the good Reverend Tillis Grasdon, had ensured he will be her sole heir.