Wolf not knowing his heritage was a big part of the book; he only knows that he is part Indian. He calls himself "Just Wolf" whenever someone asks his last name. He also has a birthmark shaped like a howling wolf on his shoulder. You find out at the end of the book who he is from that birthmark, because his father had it as well. He goes from town to town looking for the man that sold him to a traveling salesman when he was very young. 3 or 4 years old, if I remember correctly. He knows the last name of the man who sold him was Palmer. In the end of the book, he finds the traveling salesman who he was sold to because he comes to the town where Maggie lives to try and sell whatever it was he sold. Wolf sees him, and just knows that he has to have another little boy chained up in the back of his wagon.
I believe Maggie's last name was Callahan, or something similar. She was Irish. Her parents died trying to cross a river in a covered wagon. She was the oldest child, so she got custody of her brothers and sisters. 4 or 5 of them, I think. Rory was one of them, and the youngest one was a little girl who was absolutely terrified of water. They all had red hair. I remember a part of the book when Maggie first sees all the scarring on Wolf's back, and she says something like, "Oh, Wolf, they hurt you."
I don't remember the exact location where the book was set, but I know it was out west somewhere. Possibly in the late 1800's. In the very beginning of the book, Maggie is trying to cross the river where he parents drowned the previous year, and some of Palmer's men, drunk, start giving her trouble, and Wolf comes along and drives them off. I think Maggie had been daydreaming about a knight in shining armor coming to save her ranch, and believing Wolf was it. She convinced him to come to the house to give him a meal to repay him for saving her from Palmer's men, and he ends up working for her.
Spoilers coming...
In the very end of the book, we find out Wolf's real name is Bridger "Ten Wolves" Palmer, and he is Lettie Palmer's son. Her father, the Colonel(?) Palmer, was his grandfather. He was upset that his daughter had had a child that was half Indian, so when they were sick, he sold Wolf to the traveling salesman believing that he would be killed, and told Lettie when she recovered that Wolf had died.
That's about all I remember... Was more that I thought. :)
Ty for helping!
