In 1914, Linda and Mac McKinstry left their secure jobs in Washington, D.C., married, and moved west to establish a homestead in country both untouched and beautiful, but also inhospitable, dangerous, and forty miles from anywhere.

Their hair-raising, yet charming, account of their struggles to build a homestead and raise a family at the foot of the Tetons provides a glimpse into life in an region so wild and scenic that powerful outside interests covet its cascading water for irrigation and its land for preservation as a national park.