Alice begins as a purportedly rebellious, somewhat naïve newlywed from England who dreams of glitz and glamour in the United States. When she arrives in Kentucky, she soon realizes that she’s expected to be a silent woman who cooks, cleans, and births babies. Expectation versus reality hits hard, and soon Alice also suffers from her husband’s cooling affections. She finds newfound freedom and purpose in delivering books to mountain families on horseback. The work is tough, but it enables her to find fulfillment outside her marriage and home.

As she grows into a stronger character who sees the injustice and inequality among the sexes, Alice becomes a bigger target for her father-in-law’s ire. When he beats her for speaking her mind, Alice flees a house that has long felt like a prison. Alice’s flight from her marriage changes her perspective. She takes more pride in her work, yet she closes up inside, burying happiness and hope. She realizes she loves Fred Guisler, yet she can’t do anything about this aside from talk to him expressively about books.

Alice soon becomes a woman modeled after her mentor, Margery O’Hare. She learns to shoot and takes on the mountain ways without complaint.