On the eve of Utah's admittance into the Union, Rebecca Kade has more pressing concerns on her mind than celebrating statehood. Her parents' untimely deaths. The possible loss of the family's beloved ranch. A looming confrontation with her estranged twin sister. And the complications arising from the arrival of a charming suitor.

Rebecca is determined to save her father's ranch, no matter how much effort and heartache it takes. But her sister Rachel, with a new life in Salt Lake City, is less than enthusiastic in her response to Rebecca's pleas for help. Rachel would prefer to sell the ranch and live in the city.

When Rachel introduces her latest beau to Rebecca, the seeds are sown for still more conflict between the two sisters, each headstrong and courageous in her own way. But Judson Carter has his own battles to fight before he is free to court the sister who has won his heart.

In this, the fifth and final volume of The Kade Family Saga: In the Shadow of the Mountain, the story builds to a climactic conclusion against the vivid backdrop of new statehood and the challenges of faith and family during the tumultuous closing years of the nineteenth century. Despite the faith of their ancestors, Rebecca and Rachel must both find their own way to hope and happiness, to redemption and forgiveness, to life and love.