Weisgarber, Ann  
  
  
    In the inhospitable lands of the Utah Territory
 during the winter of 1888
 thirty-seven-year-old Deborah Tyler waits for her husband
 Samuel
 to return home from his travels as a wheelwright. It is now the depths of winter
 Samuel is weeks overdue
 and Deborah is getting worried. Deborah lives in Junction
 a tiny town of seven Mormon families scattered along the floor of a canyon
 and she earns her living by tending orchards and making work gloves. Isolated by the red-rock cliffs that surround the town
 she and her neighbors live apart from the outside world
 even regarded with suspicion by the Mormon faithful who question the depth of their belief. When a desperate stranger who is pursued by a Federal Marshal shows up on her doorstep seeking refuge
 it sets in motion a chain of events that will turn her life upside down. The man
 a devout Mormon
 is on the run from the US government
 which has ruled the practice of polygamy to be a felony. Although Deborah is not devout and doesn't subscribe to polygamy
 she is distrustful of non-Mormons with their long tradition of persecuting believers of her wider faith.