Josefina hopes to become a "curandera" or healer like Tía Magdalena, and she is tested just before her tenth birthday when a friend receives a potentially fatal snakebite.

"The grand saga of an American ranching family continues in The Last Ranch, the final, mesmerizing book of New York Times bestseller Michael McGarrity's gripping and richly authentic American West trilogy. When Matthew Kerney returns to his ranch in the beautiful San Andres Mountains after serving in Sicily during World War II, he must not only fight to recover physically and emotionally from a devastating war injury, but he must also battle attempts...

Nine-year-old Josefina, the youngest of four sisters living in New Mexico in 1824, tries to help run the household after her mother dies.

When the entire family goes into the hills to collect piñon nuts, Josefina hopes to find the most in order to make Tía Dolores proud of her.

Josefina and her sisters are excited when energetic young Aunt Dolores arrives at the rancho, bringing new ideas, new fashions, and new challenges, but they worry the changes will make them forget Mamá, especially as Christmas approaches.

Josefina discovers that she has a gift for healing when she tends an orphaned baby goat, finds the courage and creativity to mend her family's broken trust in an americano trader, and seeks to keep her family whole and happy when ́Tía Dolores plans to leave.