Some days, ten-year-old Margar ta Sandoval feels as if the wind might blow her away. The country has been gripped by the Great Depression, so times are hard everywhere. Then she has to leave her fam lia in New Mexico -- especially her beloved Abuelita -- to move to Fort Steele, Wyoming, where her father has taken a job on the railroad.

When Margar ta meets Evangeline, she's excited to have a friend her own age in Wyoming. But it often seems like Evangeline, and everyone else in town, doesn't understand or appreciate the Sandovals' Hispanic heritage. At the same time, the Sandovals discover they might lose Abuelita's land and their ancestral home unless they can pay off her tax bill. Can Margar ta keep her friend, help her family in New Mexico, and find a place in Fort Steele for good?