Letters, photographs, a program from a concert by Madame Albani, a buckskin jacket, clippings about the Bill Miner gang -- mementos found by a museum curator organizing a display about central British Columbia a century ago. Infused with the spirit clinging to these personal treasures, Anna reconstructs the life of their owner, Margaret Stuart.

On the cusp of womanhood, Margaret is drawn by opposites: the Nicola Valley ranchland, the horses, and her native grandmother's traditions on one side, the luxuries sent by her American relatives an the new art of photography on the other. Anna's and Margaret's lives entwine, the past reverberates through the present, and their shared rituals and turning points create a universal pattern of beauty.