Fourteen-year-old Martha Mary Overstreet only dreams of becoming a doctor until she writes an essay about "women having a say in their own lives, like choosing whether or not to get married or have children"--and begins to realize that she can have "a say" in her own life. She doesn't win the DAR essay contest, but she comes to the attention of Dr. Klinefelder, the Mayfield physician. In 1888 in Mayfield, Texas, a girl lives in her parents' home until she marries or becomes a teacher. But Marty, the oldest of six children, sees her mother exhausted by child-bearing and the unpredictability of cotton farming, and Marty won't begin that life without fighting for an education and the chance to be a doctor. Dr. Klinefelder encourages her to attend a nursing school opening in Galveston, but Marty is determined not to settle for anything less than her dream--until Billy Washburn kisses her, and Marty feels "everything inside of her tighten up and go hot."