Orphaned at sixteen, Lake goes to live with an old woman who is a stranger to her … her grandmother.

Gray, lonely days are livened only by the stories her grandmother tells her of a treasure buried on the family land. The only clue to its whereabouts lies in the mysterious bit of doggerel her grandmother recalls:

*Warm in winter, cold in summer,
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
East is not north, west is not south,
One foot from four we must trust.*

Together in their loneliness, Lake and her grandmother begin the search for the long-lost treasure … a search that ends in both sorrow and joy for Lake. [text from book jacket]