Enhanced with spectacular photographs from John Clement, travel through time among the Palouse Country's beauty and expanse, starting with its First Peoples. Depending on the season, the four Plateau Indian tribes dwelled along its rivers, streams, and bunchgrass hills, maintaining an intimate relationship with the land and utilizing its natural bounty until the government forced the majority onto reservations and opened the land to immigration.

Native-born Americans and Canadians, Irish and British, Chinese and Japanese, Empire, Volga, and Black Sea Germans, Norwegians, and Swedes all came, and many formed distinct settlements. Most farmed or raised stock, but some built roads and railroads or mined for gold. Chapters covering the various groups depict events that prompted emigration, describe the settlers' transitions and living conditions, chronicle significant people and families, discuss major influences that impacted the population, and recount how the communities grew and changed.