In 1905, in Washington, D.C., a young newly-trained nurse is called to the White House for special duty.

With the money earned on that venture, she sets out on a cross-country trip by train for California. Along the way, the young woman encounters events and people whose stories enthrall and excite.

These anecdotes are recorded over the years, 1905 and 1908 in the young woman's diary. Upon her death in 1946, the diary disappears.

The missing diary is discovered by a boy who, for some mysterious reason, cannot forget what he has read and is reluctant to allow the book out of his sight.

The boy, now a man, breathes life into the former nurse who, seemingly from her grave, recounts her early years and allows us a look into a fascinating portal of time.