It all happened so quickly. Hallie and her mother and father had lived comfortably and happily in California. Hallie had loved everything about her life. And then her mother was killed in an accident and her father injured, so much so that the doctor recommended that he go away. And so they were on a Christmas tree farm in Montana. Instead of a pleasant school, Hallie only had correspondence courses; instead of many friends, she had only crippled Birdie and the old Indian, Black Thunder.

Yet it all seemed worth it after Hallie found Sasha. He was a wolf pup whose mother had been killed by hunters. He was like a dog, at first and even after he had almost matured. He was company.

The author has made the lonely magic of the Montana wilderness as alive and acceptable to the reader as it became to Hallie.