The next morning, Maya wakes, disoriented, and hears a whimpering sound. A brown dog named Golly jumps on her bed, and Maya screams. A tall, thin man with reddish hair enters, introduces himself as her great-uncle Frederick “Fig” Limner, and calms the dog. When Maya claims that she might be allergic to dogs, Fig is skeptical but tells her to avoid Golly. He offers to make pancakes.

From the window seat, Maya realizes this room is where she once played with her mother. She places the brown-and-white toy horse on the windowsill beside her mother’s photo. Downstairs, she admires a painting of a black stallion and sees walls covered with photos of her mother on horseback. Overhearing Moose in the kitchen, Maya learns that her grandmother lied for years to her from visiting her mother’s family. When Moose says it breaks his heart to send her away so soon, Maya confronts them.

Fig and Moose explain that she will spend the summer at Aunt Violet’s wilderness camp on the Sweetwater River with her 10-year-old cousin Payton, Fig’s mischievous grandson. Fig and Moose must stay at the ranch to finish work before joining Maya there. Not wanting to leave, Maya lies and claims that she has altitude sickness and needs two weeks to recover. Tearfully, Moose insists that they must honor her parents’ wishes for her to experience the same summers that Ellie once did. Reluctantly, Maya agrees but admits that she does not know how to ride a horse. They tell her that Aunt Vi will teach her to ride a dependable blue roan named Seltzer.

Maya rides sandwiched between Moose and Fig, with Golly in Fig’s lap. For two hours, Fig narrates the landscape while he and Moose banter. Maya asks about ghost horses, and Fig explains that they are Paint horses whose white patches seem to float in moonlight. After turning onto a dirt road, they stop at Aunt Vi’s remuda. Maya runs to the corral, mesmerized by the massive horses. Moose identifies three bays named Russell, Catlin, and Homer; a dun named Audubon; and the blue roan, Seltzer. A sorrel named Wilson, the horse that Payton rides, stands separated from the others.

They drive to the camp, a valley between a rocky ridge and the Sweetwater River. Five tepees dot the grass, flanked by two canvas tents: a kitchen and an office. A short, energetic woman with reddish hair charges toward them, holding wildflowers. Aunt Violet “Vi” Limner ignores her brothers and hugs Maya tightly, remarking on the girl’s resemblance to Ellie. In a whirlwind, Vi distributes orders and supplies.

Vi directs Maya to the latrine, a tepee with a makeshift toilet. As Maya exits, firecrackers hiss past her, followed by explosive bangs. Terrified by the idea that someone is shooting, Maya screams and throws herself to the muddy ground.

A boy stands over Maya, doubled over with laughter. He introduces himself as Payton, her cousin. Maya dislikes him immediately and marches back to camp without speaking to him. He follows, taunting her and calling her a tattletale. Inside her tepee, Maya finds clothing, including a windbreaker with her mother’s name on the label. She puts it on, hoping to discover what made this place special to her mother.

That evening around the campfire, Payton asks if Maya has ridden horses or gone camping. Maya lies, claiming to have extensive experience with both. She then goes on to invent elaborate stories about a bear attack at a summer camp and violent earthquakes in California. When the adults return to the fire and ask about the earthquakes, Maya is forced to downplay her tales.

Moose asks Vi which horses to bell and hobble for night grazing. Vi explains the practice and notes that Wilson remains separated because he constantly tries to escape. Vi plays guitar and sings “Down in the Valley,” Ellie’s favorite song. The melancholy tune makes Moose cry and causes Maya to struggle with her own emotions. Vi reveals that for years after Ellie’s death, she was too grief-stricken to sing.

After goodbyes from Moose and Fig, who leave early the next morning, Payton ambushes Maya in the dark, telling her that he is unhappy she is at camp. Inside her tepee, something wriggles in her sleeping bag. Maya discovers a mouse and screams for Vi, who removes it and explains that this was Payton’s prank. As Maya zips the tent securely, she wonders if Payton can be belled and hobbled.

The next morning, Maya goes to the corrals for her first riding lesson, feeling both excited and anxious. Vi corrects her grain-feeding technique, showing her to hold her hand flat for safety. The horse gently nibbles from her palm. Vi explains that Payton must stay in camp as punishment; she then begins teaching Maya to approach, halter, lead, groom, saddle, and bridle a horse. Standing close to Seltzer, Maya feels a hypnotic sense of calm energy and connection. Vi helps her mount, and with the horse on a lead rope, Maya urges Seltzer to walk and then jog. Despite her initial claim that she gets migraines from going too fast, Maya follows Vi’s instructions diligently for over an hour, feeling new waves of confidence. Later, after removing Seltzer’s tack, Maya eagerly asks when she can ride again. Vi assigns her chores and tells her to send Payton for his lesson, noting that riding calms his restless energy.

Returning to camp, Maya discovers that her box of toy horses has been opened and the figurines are missing; her mother’s photo is on the floor. She finds Payton by the river with the toy horses piled beside him. When she demands them back, he throws the brown-and-white Paint horse into dense willows. Maya frantically searches for it, crying that the toy is one of the last things she has from her mother. Payton reveals that he overheard Moose saying Maya can return to the ranch if she hates the camp, and he urges her to complain to Vi so that he can have his family to himself. Maya collects the remaining horses, muttering that she hates Payton, not the camp.

That evening, Maya sits quietly at the campfire, refusing to give Payton the satisfaction of complaining. Vi asks if Payton latched Wilson’s gate; he confirms that he did. Later, as Maya stirs the fire embers alone, resentment churns in her mind. Walking toward the latrine, an idea forms: If she can make Payton look careless, Vi might send him back to the ranch for the summer.