To Ruby, her log-riding lumberjack pa is the most wonderful person in the world. There's nothing she'd rather do than follow in his footprints, but a lumber camp is no place for an eight-year-old girl. So Ruby goes to school. There she discovers another passion -- the world that opens up to her in books. When circumstances suddenly change, Ruby fears she has lost the two things she loves most. But through her struggle, she discovers in herself the courage, kindness, and talent that she always admired in her father.