Oklahoma, 1912.
Priscilla Cochran intends to prove to the world she is a grown-up woman able to take care of herself.
Mitch Beaumont wants a teacher for the small, still growing town of Dogtown, Colorado. He is tired of young teachers who come to Dogtown and leave in tears because it is not a built- up city with entertainment a young woman would want.
With Priscilla's assurance she is indeed a 'mature woman' he waits with expectation at the station for her to arrive. Then twenty year old Priscilla steps off the mail coach and falls at his feet in the mud.