Greeder's summer at her uncle's farm is made special because of her friendship with a very tall, composed woman who raises hogs and who closely resembles the magazine photograph of a Watutsi queen.

Emily has enjoyed her pet gerbil for five years, but one day after school she finds Petey huddled up in a corner of his cage.

When a coyote steals one of his collie's pups to raise, a shepherd boy learns that wild creatures must follow their instincts.