Hazel knows her time at Gladstone, a ranch on the high plains of New Mexico, is coming to an end. Her life's work has been to offer a place of safety for her uncle, Travis, plus three others who had nowhere else to turn. These five people have made a family together, and Hazel can only hope one of them replaces her. Claire, who arrived as a baby with her mother, knows that she is the "one," but will the other four allow a six-year-old to be in charge?

Shelly, who arrived as a pregnant teen, has upended the peace of Gladstone by asking Travis and Hazel to tell the truth about the deaths that happened there so long ago— the deaths that left them, teenagers themselves, in charge of Gladstone.

Hazel and Travis are granted redemption upon their confession, Shelly feels the pull to go find her parents, and Opal and Claire assume the mantle of caregivers at Gladstone.

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