Meet Josefina Montoya, a nine-year-old girl growing up in New Mexico in 1824. Josefina and her sisters have been struggling ever since Mamá died a year ago. When Mamá's sister, Tía Dolores, comes to live on their rancho, the girls are overjoyed. But Tía Dolores has lots of new ideas! She starts a family weaving business. And she teaches the girls to read, something Mamá never learned to do. Josefina worries that all of Tía Dolores's changes will make them forget Mamá. Meantime, traders from Missouri are arriving on the Santa Fe Trail, bringing new ideas of their own.