Elizabeth had gone out to southern California to visit her recently widowed sister - and, not altogether surprisingly, found Ruth far from happy, intimidated by her late husband's formidable relatives, struggling to keep his small impoverished estate going, with only her children to comfort her. And it didn't help matters when Elizabeth arrived in the company of Nicholas Ballantyne, who had been very helpful to her, but who, it appeared, was the family's nearest neighbour and bitterest enemy. But an old Indian legend declared that as long as the Joshua tree in the garden of El Cortijo lived, the estate would survive. Was the legend nothing but superstition, or should Elizabeth encourage her sister to give up the fight.