Meet Josefina Montoya, a nine-year-old girl growing up in New Mexico in 1824. Josefina and her sisters have been struggling ever since MamA died a year ago. When MamA's sister, TIa Dolores, comes to live on their rancho, the girls are overjoyed. But TIa Dolores has lots of new ideas! She starts a family weaving business. And she teaches the girls to read, something MamA never learned to do. Josefina worries that all of TIa Dolores's changes will make them forget MamA. Meantime, traders from Missouri are arriving on the Santa Fe Trail, bringing new ideas of their own.