The Ballad of Josie

In the Wyoming Territory, Josie Minick has just been widowed. Despite most people, including Josie herself, believing that her now-deceased husband Whit wasn't the nicest man, some believe that Josie killed him. Her primary concern is looking after her adolescent son Luther. His paternal grandfather, Cheyenne-based Alpheus Minick, has taken custody of him against Josie's wishes since he feels that she can't take the best care of him in her current situation. Although Josie has many friends and supporters, most specifically Jase Meredith, all of the men, including Jase, believe that as a woman, she should only be able to do what is traditionally seen as women's work--usually positions of subservience and drudgery. What she really wants to do if move back to the large farmstead that she and Whit owned but which has been neglected; she wants to raise cattle there. Jase happens to give her an idea of how to make a living in doing something she sees as manageable, but which is against the unofficial code of the territory. Despite the range war that ensues, largely led by her neighbor Arch Ogden, she is determined to win on her own terms, all in an effort to be with Luther again. But she might unwittingly get some of her closest friends killed while jeopardizing the intention of the territory's political leaders--including Jase and Arch--to make Wyoming the 44th State in the Union.