Lily DeLony, fifteen, tells her very one-sided version of what happened on Christmas Eve night 1883 in the town of McDade, Texas, when a vigilante group made up of ordinary citizens struck against a gang of outlaws. One of the outlaw gang was the love of Lily's young life. One of the vigilantes was her father.

The DeLony family is churchgoing, God-fearing, hardworking, controlled. The father's word is law and is seldom spoken softly. But Lily was raised to meet the challenge of hard work. She's a strong, upright girl who knows the rules of virtue and righteousness. And follows them. Follows them, that is, until she meets Marion "Shot" Beatty, youngest of the Beatty brothers.

Based around a true event, Lily's telling of this tale is characterized by her spirit, her will, her fearlessness, and the endearing gullibility of youth. By the end of the story, Lily had forsaken all that for the love of Marion Beatty and an unknown future - one that includes a pistol in Lily's skirt pocket.