Penelope Brainerd left the antebellum south for a new adventure on the Oregon Trail against the advice of everyone who knew her. After her best friend--a slave--was sold to another family to keep the girls from being so close, she knew that she could never abide living with slavery. Determined to make it on her own, she is one of two unmarried women in her wagon train from Independence, Missouri to Oregon Territory. From their first day on...