Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie

This novel is presented as the diary of Hattie Campbell, a 13-year-old girl whose family travels the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon in 1847. Written entirely in diary entries, the story follows Hattie as she records the dangers, losses, friendships, and small triumphs of the 2,000-mile journey west.

On her 13th birthday in January 1847, Hattie receives the diary from her Aunt June in Booneville, Missouri. Hattie is the eldest surviving Campbell child; her four younger sisters died of swamp fever the previous summer, leaving only her younger brothers, six-year-old Jake and two-year-old Bennie. Within weeks, her Uncle Milton dies after falling from the family's roof. At the funeral, his coffin slides into the Missouri River and is swept away by a steamboat's wake. Hattie's father, Charles Campbell (Pa), nearly drowns retrieving it but is rescued by the riverboat crew. The grateful captain offers the family free passage anywhere. Pa announces they will travel to Independence, Missouri, to begin the Oregon Trail. Hattie's mother, Augusta (Ma), is furious and refuses to speak to him for days. When she finally demands an explanation, Pa cites overcrowding, high taxes, and the swamp fever, saying Oregon offers free land, mild winters, and a fresh start. Aunt June reads a letter from her friend Narcissa Whitman, who traveled to Oregon a decade earlier to found a mission, praising the rich soil and fair climate. Aunt June and her husband, Uncle Tim, decide to join the Campbells, which cheers Ma.

Pa sells their home and livestock. Hattie says goodbye to Becky, her lifelong best friend, and the family boards the steamboat Eliza May on March 15. During the voyage, a baby girl is born to the Anderson family and named after the boat. The Andersons already have five daughters, including two-year-old Cassia. In Independence, hundreds of emigrants prepare for the journey. Alarming news arrives about the Donner Party, emigrants who took a shortcut the previous year and became trapped by Sierra Nevada blizzards; survivors resorted to cannibalism. Ma pleads with Pa to turn back. A mountain man named Tall Joe, who becomes the train's guide, advises trading mules for oxen and warns them to avoid shortcuts. Hattie befriends Pepper Lewis, a 14-year-old with a twin brother named Wade.

The wagon train departs before sunrise with two dozen wagons. Hattie finds the wagon too bumpy and begins walking with Pepper. The two girls plan their future in Oregon: houses next door, a shared garden, matching curtains. At the Big Blue River, the wagon tips dangerously during a ford, but Ma pulls the reins and rights it. Afterward, young twins from another family wander off to pick berries and never return. Their parents insist the train keep moving. Hattie watches for the family's wagon to catch up for days, but it never appears.

Along the Platte River, Aunt June is revealed to be pregnant. A grandmotherly woman named Mrs. Kenker brings soup for the ailing Aunt June, but Hattie catches her stealing one of Ma's silver spoons. Conflicted and not wanting to burden her mother, Hattie says nothing. Tragedy strikes when Hattie and Pepper cook supper. Hattie slices what she believes are wild parsnips, giving two-year-old Cassia a couple of raw bites. Before the soup is served, three boys, including Wade, sample the raw vegetables and collapse, shaking and foaming at the mouth. Pa identifies the plants as water hemlock, a deadly poison. Cassia and two of the boys die. Wade survives after three days unconscious, the only one whose jaws could be pried open for powdered charcoal. Hattie is devastated and blames herself, though everyone insists she is not at fault. She and Pepper go wagon to wagon showing families what hemlock looks like.

Pepper confides that Gideon, a shy 17-year-old, has asked her to marry him and she has said yes. Hattie is happy for her friend but privately envious. At Windlass Hill, the Anderson wagon hits a stump during the steep descent and tumbles to pieces. No one is hurt, and Aunt June and Uncle Tim invite the Andersons to share their wagon. Meanwhile, Mrs. Kenker continues stealing household items from other families.

Hattie overcomes an earlier prejudice when she befriends Mrs. Bigg, a very large woman whose husband, Mr. Bigg, lost his legs in a wagon accident. Hattie finds them among the kindest people on the train. Mrs. Bigg sews Pepper a wedding dress from lace and parlor curtains. During a crossing of the North Platte, a mule tangles in another team's harnesses and pulls both wagons underwater, drowning two families. Mr. Lewis, Pepper and Wade's father, and Pa build a miniature prairie schooner as a wedding gift. The wedding takes place at Independence Rock, with Pepper barefoot and wearing wildflowers in her hair. Afterward, Wade takes Hattie's hand and leads her to dance by the campfire.

At South Pass on the Continental Divide, Tall Joe announces they are nearly halfway. Near Sandy Creek, he offers two routes: a dangerous 50-mile desert shortcut or the safer path to Fort Bridger. The Campbells choose the safe route because of Aunt June's pregnancy; eight families take the shortcut. At Fort Bridger, about 30 families split off for California. Hattie confides Mrs. Kenker's thefts to Mrs. Bigg, who reveals that the Kenkers' house burned down before the journey, killing their two grown sons. She suggests Mrs. Kenker steals out of grief and emptiness, and advises patience.

Along the Snake River, Mr. Kenker gets in a fight with Tall Joe. After Pa separates them, Mr. Kenker calmly walks to the canyon's edge and steps off to his death. Tall Joe finds the Kenkers' wagon stuffed with stolen goods, and the emigrants recover their possessions. Mrs. Bigg tells Hattie they must show mercy to Mrs. Kenker regardless. At Three Island Crossing, Aunt June goes into labor during the ford, and baby River Ann Valentine is born on the third island. In the final channel, Mrs. Bigg falls from her wagon into the current and drowns despite desperate attempts to save her. Mr. Bigg, tied to his seat, cries out her name but cannot free himself. Hattie is furious with God, asking why generous Mrs. Bigg had to die while Mrs. Kenker survives.

After Fort Boise, Hattie resolves to stop fearing Indians, recognizing they are as varied as white people. In the Grande Ronde valley, Aunt June wants to detour to visit her friend Narcissa Whitman's mission, but Tall Joe warns the route from there requires rafting the dangerous Columbia River. The group votes to stay together. The Campbells' last oxen die atop the Cascade Range, and they abandon their wagon, continuing on foot through snow and bitter cold. Hattie thinks of the Donner Party and feels close to giving up.

The emigrants reach Oregon City in mid-October, in the rain. Ma calmly asks Pa where to pitch their tent. Pa builds a cabin and plants fruit trees, reveling in Oregon's rich soil. Pepper and Gideon settle in the Campbells' barn, fulfilling the girls' dream of living side by side. Devastating news arrives: on November 29, Narcissa and Marcus Whitman were murdered at their mission by Cayuse who blamed Dr. Whitman for a measles epidemic that killed their children. The family reflects that had they detoured, they might have been killed too.

Ma wants to invite the shunned Mrs. Kenker to the Christmas celebration. Hattie objects, but Ma tells her that forgiving sometimes means forgiving someone who will never apologize. On Christmas Day, Mrs. Kenker arrives last, standing alone and empty-handed. Hattie watches her reach tentatively toward crying children, then pull back. Hattie's heart softens. She retrieves Ma's silver spoon, the one Mrs. Kenker originally stole, wraps it in her blue apron sash, and gives it to Mrs. Kenker as a gift. Mrs. Kenker's eyes grow moist. She whispers her thanks, touches Hattie's cheek, and walks away into the night. Wade waits for Hattie in the doorway, takes her arm, and leads her toward the barn where fiddlers are playing. Hattie sees Ma on the dance floor with Pa, her head thrown back in laughter, and knows they are really, truly, finally in Oregon.

An epilogue reveals the characters' futures. Hattie and Wade marry on Christmas Eve 1848. Unable to have children, they adopt the twins Sarah and Blue after the twins' parents die in an accident. Pepper and Gideon have seven sons. Hattie and Pepper share a fence and a vegetable garden for the rest of their lives. Mrs. Kenker dies alone in 1849; Hattie is the one who finds her. Aunt June's granddaughter survives the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.