Ayita is a tall, fourteen-year-old Cherokee Indian girl with flowing black hair and keen brown eyes. She and her tribe have lived peacefully in Georgia for generations.

But when the United States government wants their land for new white immigrants and their families, the Cherokee are forced to leave their homeland and travel hundreds of miles west across the country to lands in Oklahoma known as the Indian Territory.

During this perilous journey, known to history as the Trail of Tears, they encounter countless hardships, including bitter cold, inadequate supplies, and hostile white...