This is the story of an old man and a young man, total strangers, becoming tied together by the efforts of a little girl… a few forest animals… and a lonely spot of rocky land on a hilltop in a small southern state.
This mix of persons includes the aftermath of a couple of wars that had nothing to do with the persons involved but had left scars that can never quite heal. Toss in a young soldier and a bloody battlefield and then you have a recipe for horror and nightmares.
The word 'ranch' is somewhat of a misnomer, as it pictures bovine and equine members and busy occupation when it is more like a 'slowing down and re-purposing of a few lives, and the effort to strengthen other lives so they can do what they were meant to do. It also involves pair of squirrels named Ripley and Stretch… and a little girl named Kitty with the mind and vocabulary of a Philadelphia lawyer.
