Sal was brought up on a farm in Bybanks, Kentucky. She is 13 years old and is a “country girl at heart.” Like her mother, she has long black hair and is proud of her Seneca Indian heritage. Her parents tried to name her after the name of the Indian tribe to which her great-great-grandmother belonged, but they made a mistake. They named her Salamanca instead of Seneca. And because her mother thought trees were beautiful, Tree became her middle name. Trees play an important role in Sal’s life. She prays to trees (because there is always a tree close by), and she has a “singing” tree on the farm.
Sal’s inner journey through the grieving process is evident throughout the novel. She denies that her mother is dead. She insists that her mother will be coming home again. She longs for everything to be the way it was. Sal is angry and, at times, she is “ornery and stubborn as an old donkey.” She wants someone to blame for her mother’s abandonment of her, but her father is too good and her mother is a part of her.
Sal takes a road trip with her grandparents. She wants to see her mother’s grave, but is afraid at the same time. At first Sal wants to rush to get to Lewiston, Idaho, because she feels she has to be there in time for her mother’s birthday, but as they do get closer, she wants to slow down because she is scared. When Sal finally sees her mother’s grave and headstone with a tree engraved on it, she knows once and for all that her mother will never be coming home.
Sal does not think she is brave. She is scared of “lots and lots of things.” Sometimes she pretends to be brave when that is what people expect of her, even if she is scared to death. After her mother leaves her, Sal is afraid other people she cares about will leave also. Consequently, Sal doesn’t trust people easily. She learns to trust Ben over time and eventually falls in love with him.
Sal also learns to trust Phoebe. They become close friends. Sal is attracted to Phoebe “like a magnet.” Sal sees Phoebe as another version of herself—the only difference is that Phoebe acts out the way Sal sometimes feels.
Sal and her father move back to their farm and Gramps moves in with them. Sal misses her mother and is jealous of the fact that Phoebe’s mother came back and her mother didn’t, but Sal is no longer angry. She is content with her life as it is on the farm.
