Based on the author's family history, Betsy is a novel set in the Missouri frontier, circa 1850, where preachers and doctors are scarce and feelings are strong. Betsy, a city beauty, fresh from the heartbreak of desertion, becomes embroiled in adventure as she travels to the Misouri frontier. There she finds herself falling in love again--with a family of active children. Betsy is also the story of these children and their father, still grieving the loss of their mother and wife--and how they react to the advent of this young woman into their lives. And finally, it is a depiction of life in Missouri when it was a part of the American frontier, up to and including a two family feud.