The Powder River Valley

Starting in Chapter Three, most of the novel's action takes place in the Powder River Valley where the Hole in the Wall Gang have settled. From the convent of the Holy Child near the town of Fairchild, the narrator stays hidden in the bookseller's wagon for three nights and four days before reaching the valley. Nestled between two rivers, the vast valley first appears to Ada as a wild, inhospitable place until she stumbles across the gang's encampment, far from the main road and surrounded by thick brush.

Ada's first view of the camp is heartwarming with the sound of a fiddle playing, the sight of two people kissing, and the shadows of others dancing near a bonfire. At a low point in the valley, the gang has managed to build a bunkhouse, kitchen cabin, barn, and stables, and maintains an orchard and a pasture...