Women in the 1870s have little control over their lives and the women of Dry Creek, California, look to Sheriff Maud Overstreet, a thirty-something spinster, as an example of women's progress. Following a disastrous fire that leveled the school, Maud appoints a woman as fire chief. Inspired, several women step forward to run their own businesses-a bakery, charm school, and newspaper-much to the consternation of the male town councilors. While...