It's 1935 in Oklahoma. Twins Howe and Joanna Stanton live on the family farm. Their lives are filled with chores, school, and surviving dust storms. When their uncle can't make his loan payments and loses his farm, he moves his family to California where jobs are supposedly available. Howe and Joanna's dad decides to head west as well in the hope of making money he can send back to the family.
Left to manage the farm with their older brother and their mother, the twins find themselves working even harder. The dust storms increase in intensity causing destruction and illness throughout the region. When their older brother Lou falls from a ladder and breaks his leg, all the farm work falls to the twins and their mother.
Despite having scoliosis, Joanna impresses the Red Cross nurses at the local makeshift hospital. They offer her a job that provides extra money for the family, but they still hope their father returns soon.
Author Alyssa Colman deftly portrays the Dust Bowl time in the Midwest. Tales of the constant cleanup after the suffocating dust and dirt that coats the land informs readers of a time in our history that taught farmers how to better handle their crops and manage the land.
