Christopher Hale uses the Bettina May family as an example of how wagon train life is often affected by the families that make up the wagon train and the lives they lead. Bettina is a widow of an Army officer who is traveling west with her two sons, Arthur and Nathan, their wives and kids and daughter Ginny who ix expecting her first child along with husband Gene. Her kids are all tied to her apron strings which is causing friction between Bettina and the two daughter-in-laws and Ginny and Gene. An incident between two of the grandsons in which one boy is injured by a thrown rock brings things to a boil when Bettina pushes the mothers out to comfort the injured grandson. The problems are visible to the wagon train staff who try to avoid the conflict until a fight between Rose and Arthur causes him to runoff.
—Anonymous