This novel tells the story of a young lady, Lucy Watson, the daughter of a saloon-keeper. After her father's death Lucy takes a newly created position as Welfare Instructor among a community of backwoods people in Arizona. At first Lucy struggles to fit in, but she comes up with some ideas to improve lives of these people, and they begin to accept her and her ideas while she also learns quite a lot in the process. Lucy gets particularly interested in Edd Denmeade, a wild-bee hunter whose work is fascinating for her.