Overview

She came home to bury her father. She stayed to fight for what he left behind.

In the summer of 1887, Helen Ashford returns to her family’s ranch in West Texas with gold dust still clinging to her clothes and grief weighing heavy on her shoulders. She’d only been gone a few months this time—off to New Mexico, digging for gold to pay for her father’s medical care. She thought there would be more time.

Now he’s gone, and her estranged brother Elias has reappeared, determined to take the land she risked everything to protect. The town is watching. The vultures are circling. And Helen isn’t sure if the respect her father earned will extend to her—or if the ranchers will stand behind a young woman determined to hold her ground.

But not everyone has turned away. There’s Ruth, the sharp-eyed blacksmith. Caleb, the old ranch hand who never stopped believing in her. And Clara—the refined young woman promised to a man with dangerous ambitions. Clara is unexpected. Complicated. And impossible to ignore.

This isn’t just a story of love. It’s a story of inheritance, resilience, and choosing who you call family.

Poetic, grounded, and fierce, Where the Dust Settles is a sapphic Western about holding your ground, claiming your story, and finding comfort in community and found family.