Walls writes about her grandmother, Lily Case Smith. Born into poverty in 1901, she fearlessly takes her first teaching job, after riding her horse alone across the frontier for 28 days. Her first marriage is a sham and after her second marriage to a rancher, she survives by selling bootleg liquor, hiding bottles under the baby's crib. She breaks horses, learns to fly, wins at poker and speaks her mind under any circumstances. She never loses her spirit and practical approach to all life throws at her. This is a portrait of hard life in the Southwest and a woman who defies convention.
