"Only one generation away from the pioneers who first broke the soil, Kiowa Falls is surrounded by newly discovered oil fields. Yet the daughter of the town's mayor, Ru-Marie, is a well-read young Romantic and budding artist. Her tastes in love, her parents insist, are not so refined. As they throw off their sham of civil behavior, a bitter family war erupts and with it, frontier justice"--Jacket flap.