Aboard a train departing from their home in Iowa and transporting them to join their father in Montana, the Grays anxiously wait to discover what early 1900s Wild West has in store for them. While the daughter hopes she sees Native Americans, the mother, Cora, simply longs to be reunited with her husband after a year-long separation. When they get into town, Cora sees just how underdeveloped it is, with scant buildings that have obviously been recently erected at the hands of her carpenter husband, Will. In town, she meets a few of the friends Will has made over the last year, and during their interactions, she hears hints about her new home's prior history, but Will puts it off, saying she is too tired after her train ride for the information. Upon arriving home, Cora is relieved just to have a place to rest after her travels and the family settles in for the night. The next morning, Will finally tells her the background of the house; being the only house in the whole settlement, Will had to buy it from a group of prostitutes and do some minor renovating to get it in working condition for a family. Though she is shocked, Cora isn't upset, knowing that their children couldn't go homeless. And when Will kisses her, Cora kisses him back with more passion than she had ever exhibited, though she knows not why. When she sees her daughter donning the garb that the prostitutes left behind, Cora is livid, and insists on scrubbing the house from top to bottom. More problems arise when Cora realizes that the water she desperately needs to clean is incredibly scarce in this town: with no well, the only source of water is a river three miles away, and because of its scarcity, each family has a strict allowance of water. Making do with what she has, Cora resigns herself to cleaning the house bit by bit, using each measly drop of water for all its worth.