Fourteen-year-old Martha Mary Overstreet only dreams of becoming a doctor until she writes an essay about
women having a say in their own lives, like choosing whether or not to get married or have children
- and begins to realize that she can have
a say
in her own life. She doesn’t win the DAR essay contest, but she comes to the attention of Dr. Klinefelder, the Mayfield physician. In 1888 in Mayfield, Texas, a girl lives in her parents’ home until she marries or becomes a teacher. But Marty, the oldest of six children, sees her mother exhausted by child-bearing and the unpredictability of cotton farming, and Marty won’t begin that life without fighting for an education and the chance to be a doctor. Dr. Klinefelder encourages her to attend a nursing school opening in Galveston, but Marty is determined not to settle for anything less than her dream - until Billy Washburn kisses her, and Marty feels
everything inside of tighten up and go hot.