This book is based on a true story. Being 16 and not knowing what life is about, you make bad choices, and step on land mines as you go through the choices you make. In 1965 there were still cowboys in Texas. this book takes you from a city in California, down old route 66, to a ghost town in Terlingua Texas, with a crazy con man, Jim Terrell, who cons everyone he meets. The young girl Dahlia, is held against her will, and meets with the face of death several times by her captor. The raging water of the Rio Grande sweeps through the small creek they cross in a flash flood, Dahlia is swept away and surrenders to the waters force. The towns folk are intrigued with Jim Terrell, especially the women. He resembles Clark Gable, cowboy style. On Saturday nights, the cowboys from the ranches gather at the Terlingua Inn, and it always ended with a fight. Meanwhile, Jim Terrell cheats people out of money, property, and a woman or two. Dahlia tries her best to get away but living in the middle of nowhere with tumbleweeds and dirt as your friends, makes it difficult. Dahlia is poisoned, and has a miscarriage in the outhouse. The challenges she was faced with, were not the ordinary.