Told in the first-person point of view by 14-year-old Mary Call Luther, Chapter 1 begins with a memory of the day that a traveler arrived at the family’s doorstep in the valley of Trial. He gestured that he came from the east and west–the slopes of Old Joshua and Sugar Boy–which delighted Mary Call’s sister, Devola. The stranger told Mary Call that the surrounding land is the “fairest of them all” (10), a statement that she has never forgotten. Mary Call considers the area beautiful in the spring when all the flowers bloom, but the winter is an ugly, hard time. She and her family are “mountain people,” situated in the Great Smoky Mountains. 

Although she is four years younger than Devola, Mary Call has to explain the world to her sister. Unlike the other Luthers, Devola is “cloudy-headed,” which makes Mary Call feel responsible for her well-being. Some mornings, the two sisters go out to pick witch hazel leaves for money. Devola often looks around at the landscape as if it is the first time she has seen its beauty. They sell the leaves to store owners but do not make much money.