The story tells of the gambler and townsite promoter who founded Cozad, Nebraska, and of his family, particularly his younger son, [who] became a world-famous artist and teacher known as 'Robert Henri.' This tale is essentially Robert's story, the story of a sensitive talented boy growing up in the midst of frontier violence. But it is also the story of the ambitious promoter and of frontier people fighting hunger, cold, blizzards, drouths, grasshoppers, prairie fires, and ruthless cattlemen. . . . Mari Sandoz (1896-1966) is one of Nebraska's foremost authors. She wrote twenty-three books about the High Plains region, including Crazy Horse, Cheyenne Autumn, and Old Jules, available in Bison Books editions.