The Heritage of the Desert

The novel begins in the desert of southern Utah. It is the 1870s.

• John Hare is a young cowboy who was rescued from sure death by a Mormon rancher by the name of August Naab.

• Out in the open air, Hare not only recovers his health; he falls for Mescal in a big way.

Naab puts him to work with an adopted daughter, Mescal, who tends his herd of sheep. The greatest danger Hare faces though, is over Mescal, a half-Navajo shepherdess who is already promised in marriage to Naabs first-born son.

• Well, thats the problem of this great story.

The Mormon religion, however, demands that the girl shall become the second wife of one of the Mormons.