In this entertaining debut novel Lynn Downey takes us back to San Francisco in 1952. Restless war widow Phoebe McFarland decides it's time to make some changes in her life. She quits her job, bids her surprised friends farewell, and heads south to spend the next six months on her in-laws' dude ranch in Tribulation, Arizona.

Phoebe has enjoyed multiple vacations at the ranch, loves the desert, and is happy to have the opportunity to spend time with her husband's sister. In exchange for room and board she will help out in the office, and she hopes to finally finish the novel she is working on. When a group of magazine writers comes to stay, including an attractive single man, Phoebe sees a chance to connect with the professionals.

But Tribulation soon lives up to its name. When Phoebe finds an old diary hidden in her desk, she stumbles onto secrets from the town's past that collide with a shocking revelation from her own, leading her down a trail to both discovery and danger.