The protagonist, Heather Jean, accidentally desecrates the grave of Maggie Sue who died in 1803. Their spirits merge, taking Heather Jean back to the frontier days when Maggie Sue was twelve years old. It happens in the blink of an eye and one clang of Nana's dinner bell. Her spirit lives for months inside Maggie Sue and observes life on the frontier. When Maggie Sue is bitten by a copperhead and rescued by Shawnees, she is adopted and learns their ways. Eventually, she escapes and returns to her family, only to find them sick with the typhoid. She must return to her captives to learn how to...