The Passion of Dellie O'Barr

Everybody in McDade thought of Dellie O'Barr as "the good little sister." Dellie has always done what her father wanted her to do; she even married the suitor her older sister refused -- an earnest man with a college education, a big ranch and fine house. Dellie has always done the proper thing. Until now.

Out of the blue, she finds herself falling for a man stirring up the countryside with his fiery Populist speeches. Clearly, no good can come of it -- he's an out-and-out rabble-rouser, a man set on disturbing the turn-of-the-20th-century status quo on farms all over Texas. And he's married.

And then, for the love of this man, Dellie tosses aside her own status -- a privileged life and perfect reputation -- and opens herself up to whispers of adultery and disloyalty. Not only that, she's suspected of burning down a local store hostile to her lover and his Populist followers. And when he flees town, she leaves her rich husband to chase after him.