How can twelve-year-old Dan Graham learn to accept a birthday present he didn’t want? Especially when that present is a skinny, sorrel mare named Ginger? The horseshoes Dan creates so she can do “special” jobs don’t always bring the desired results. Add to his problems being taunted by eighth-graders and befriending a Chinese boy whom no one else likes. Then he notices that his widower father is showing interest in the new school teacher. As if anyone could replace Dan’s mother! In 1900 Puget Sound country, Dan helps sandbag a flooding river, search for a lost child, and rescue snow-trapped cattle. But the scariest thing he’s ever done is ask Ginger to pull a cart across a frozen river, on a mercy mission to save a dying man. When the ice begins to crack, Dan learns the value of trust between him and Ginger Gold.