In 1868, 14-year-old Mattie is bored with her life in the Smokey Mountains. When her aunt invites Mattie to accompany her to Texas to visit her sons and her daughter-in-law expecting her first child, Mattie seizes the opportunity. Their plan is to travel by train to Memphis, Tennessee, and from there by stagecoach across Arkansas and Indian Territory into Texas. However, by the time they reach Nashville, Aunt Martha, suffering from motion sickness...