Time and Place: 1843 Oregon Trail Nineteen-year-old Katherine grew up in a less-than-ideal family on a secluded farm in the Midwest. Her stepbrothers and stepfather were lazy and alcoholic, leaving Kat to do most the work and fend for herself. Kat taught herself to hunt, fish, ride, tend the livestock, and perform every other skill necessary for survival. Those skills would come in handy when her stepfather devises a hideous plan to force her to marry the old man next door. The plan fails miserably and pushes Kat to commit the unthinkable. Kat is forced to flee from the farm, but she comes up with an ingenious strategy to save herself. After joining a wagon train headed for Oregon, she meets Jack Parker. Together they overcome incredible odds to free themselves of a troubled past and begin a new life out west. Welcome to Kat Tales...