Domingo loves Alice, freckles and all. Alice loves Domingo back, and she also loves Domingo's daughter Socorro. Socorro loves them both, and even more she loves the old cow-pony Skookum. The sale price of beef is holding steady. The profits on timothy hay and alfalfa are up a little bit. Calving is done, and the weather is not too bad. Alice thinks cautiously that things at Standfast are looking pretty sunny. And then the unfixable happens: the mother, the boyfriend. The Border. Detailing the struggles of a ranching family in the Palouse Country of eastern Washington state, Wade into the River is the second volume in the Standfast series.