Aunt Clara Brown : a woman in a thousand -- Charley Parkhurst : most celebrated stagecoach driver in the West -- Luzena Stanley Wilson : ever-resourceful -- Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton : the first Mexican-American novelist -- Abigail Scott Duniway : Oregon Trail suffragette -- Mother Jones : she could not be silenced -- Nellie Cashman : gold rush "boomer" -- Mary Hallock Foote : mining town author and illustrator -- Martha Hughes Cannon : frontier doctor, state senator, women's rights activist -- Zitkala-Sa : "Red Bird" -- Donaldina Cameron : the most loved and feared woman in Chinatown -- Makaopiopio : the spirit of Aloha

Monson shares the stories of twelve women who heard the call to settle the west and came from all points of the globe to begin their journey. As a slave, Clara watched helpless as her husband and children were sold, only to be reunited with her youngest daughter six decades later. Charlotte hid her gender to escape a life of poverty and became the greatest stagecoach driver that ever lived. A Native American, Gertrude fought to give her people a voice and to educate leaders about the ways and importance of America's native people. All endured hardships, overcame obstacles, and changed the world