An extraordinary story of ordinary people This is the story of teenager Victoria Roubideaux, pregnant and homeless, and of Raymond and Harold McPheron, the rustily uncommunicative cattle-farming brothers who take her in. It is also about Tom Guthrie, a high-school teacher, left to bring up his two young sons alone after his wife's total retreat from life, and it's their story too, the boys like and Bobby, who grace the pages with their wise and gentle thoughtfulness.