"Describes the epic range war over control of the Maxwell Land Grant, some two million acres in New Mexico Territory, and its resources between 1870 and 1900. The conflict involved miners, a foreign corporation, local elites, Texas cattlemen, the haughty'Santa Fe Ring' of lawyerly speculators, and indigenous Jicarilla Apache and Mouache Ute people"-Provided by publisher"-- "The Spanish word cimarron, meaning "wild" or "untamed," refers to a region...

Josefina and her sisters distrust learning to read and write, as well as other changes their Tía Dolores is bringing to the household, because they fear they will lose their memories of their mother.

Josefina hopes to become a "curandera" or healer like Tía Magdalena, and she is tested just before her tenth birthday when a friend receives a potentially fatal snakebite.

The second Christmas after their mother has died, Josefina and her three sisters find that participating in the traditions of Las Posadas helps keep memories of Mamá alive.