Twelve-year-old Chad is afraid of the Foster place and the black-veiled woman, known as the Black Widow, who lives there. The eerie cries that echo from the house make him tremble with fright, as he wonders about the strange white-haired little boy who also lives there. Chad avoids Aubrey, the widow’s daughter, at the one-room schoolhouse they attend, and he is tormented by the school bully. Chad is forced to face all of his fears when an accident demands an encounter with the Black Widow and her family. He befriends the Foster family, and the void left by the death of Chad’s younger sister is filled. He musters the courage to face a flash flood and risks his life in order to save another’s. Chad finds that his convictions of right and wrong are tested when the secret of the eerie cries is revealed. Set amid the harshness and contrasting beauty of the prairie of the Wyoming Territory as it prepares for statehood during the spring of 1890, Chad learns the joy and heartbreak of friendship and discovers strength and courage within himself.