Tina Harker is a typical teenager. She loves hanging with her friends at the malls, shoes, and manicures. More than that, she loves horses. Life is everything she wants it to be, until her father packs their family up and drags them across the world to Arizona. Does he really think she'll be happy living in a ghost town in the middle of the desert? It's a million miles to the nearest shopping center, not even a real mall. Her only hope for survival is finding a new horse. Trying to make the best of her horrible situation, Tina agrees to go on her first cattle drive. When one of the calves wanders off, Tina, in true cowgirl fashion and looking for excitement, rides off to rescue the poor little thing and gets a lot more adventure than she ever expected. A cowboy she’s never met accuses her of stealing cows, bandits kidnap her, and that’s not even the exciting part.

Tina Harker loves malls, manicures, fun clothes, and horses. She has everything she wants until her dad moves the entire family to Arizona. She's trying to adapt to the tiny town, serious lack of a mall, and the strangeness of the desert, not to mention the rattlesnakes. There's no one in Golton her age and no reason to wear any of her fun makeup. The only thing keeping her going is the horse she rides and the cool things she's learning on the Taggarts’ cattle ranch. Anxious for more adventure, Tina agrees to inspect the fence line for the Taggarts like a real cowgirl. She gets more than she wished for. This time she has to rescue the cute cowboy. Along the way, she finds out people will kill over water. Especially in the desert. Tina is determined to help her cowboy, but she has no idea how, or if, a Jersey girl can stand up to real gunslingers.