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Susan Spence
Liberating Sky
Liberating Sky
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It's 1968, a time of social upheaval. Eighteen year-old Sky Daly travels from her family's ranch in Montana to Berkely, California in a desperate attempt find the one person she thinks can secure her future. Once there, her conservative upbringing collides with the radical and liberal lifestyle of the hippy movement.
She finds herself amid protests as young people demand the right to greater freedoms. She is exposed to the Women's Liberation Movement and meets women fighting for equal rights in the workplace. This goes against the lifestyle she knows, as the tradition she's always accepted is that the oldest son will inherit the family ranch, and that a women's place is as a wife, limited to raising children and running the household, things she is determined to avoid.
Unsuccessful in her quest to bring home the man she loves, she returns to The D Rocking D, or The D, as it's referred to, the ranch homesteaded by her great great grandfather.
Will Daniels, a college student she meets in California, follows her in the hope of a summer job working on the ranch. He wants to be with her, but she can't imagine sharing her life with a liberal pacifist. What he doesn't realize is that the job entails picking up hay bales, a grueling, physically demanding task. Sky laughs at the thought of the scrawny college student trying to work alongside her brothers in the field.
As her family falls apart, the five generation legacy of the ranch is threatened. She can't understand why no one in her family wants to preserve their heritage. Her brothers and sisters are intent on escaping the rural lifestyle to pursue lives outside of ranching, and her parents seem to find life on The D more and more distasteful as well. She, however, wants nothing more than to continue on.
Ursula, her mother, seems determined to ruin her life. The mother and daughter are continually at odds and she finally tells her daughter there is no longer a place for her on the ranch. Sky is forced to leave The D and leaves Montana as well, giving up her dream of ranching.
Everywhere she goes, it seems that, as a girl, she is considered inferior and realizes the truth in the words of the women in Berkely about inequality in the work place. Being female is a disadvantage, especially in the male-dominated ranching lifestyle. She is reduced to waiting tables and tries to forget The D. This is the best she can hope for.
She settles into a life of mediocrity, numbing herself with alcohol to help squash her dream, now believing it was all foolishness. After years of aimless living, and after another family death, she returns to Montana. The ranch is in ruins and there seems to be no way to save it. Selling out seems to be the only option. She desperately tries to keep it going, but between bankruptcy and the lack of support from her family, the odds are against her.
The threats she faces are different from the range wars and lawlessness her ancestors faced, but they are just as dangerous. In her determination to save her childhood home, she is forced to accept that The D cannot continue in the same tradition. Change is needed and she challenges her own beliefs as she struggles to restore the family ranch.
Through it all, Will supports her, often from afar, as she still can't see herself with a man whose interest in her has nothing to do with ranching. But he encourages her to go after her dream and helps her realize she can create a life that melds the different lifestyles and includes him.
With Will's help, she learns more about her ancestry. Long-buried family secrets are revealed, including the dark past of her great grandfather, Matt Daly, a man she idolizes.
She also finds out the reason her mother was always so bitter and why she resented her daughter. She can't help but blame herself, as in a way it seems to be her fault.
When she finds herself pregnant, her worst fears are realized. That, along with The D's financial problems, seem to ensure failure. She worries not only about her ability to succeed, but also fears that Will will desert her, as he doesn't want a child tying him down any more than she does.
Even before the child is born, mysterious things begin to happen on the ranch. It's obvious someone wants to jeopardize her success. The intimidation accelerates after she gives birth, but her determination to succeed grows stronger now that she has has a baby to protect.
The situation comes to a head when Rad Johnson, her mother's ex-boyfriend, attempts to gain control of the ranch and she must prove her resolve as she resorts to a desperate measure to save it. She devises a plan to end the threat and secure the continuation of The D. She realizes, that like her ancestors, she will stop at nothing to save her home, the ranch she loves.
She finds herself amid protests as young people demand the right to greater freedoms. She is exposed to the Women's Liberation Movement and meets women fighting for equal rights in the workplace. This goes against the lifestyle she knows, as the tradition she's always accepted is that the oldest son will inherit the family ranch, and that a women's place is as a wife, limited to raising children and running the household, things she is determined to avoid.
Unsuccessful in her quest to bring home the man she loves, she returns to The D Rocking D, or The D, as it's referred to, the ranch homesteaded by her great great grandfather.
Will Daniels, a college student she meets in California, follows her in the hope of a summer job working on the ranch. He wants to be with her, but she can't imagine sharing her life with a liberal pacifist. What he doesn't realize is that the job entails picking up hay bales, a grueling, physically demanding task. Sky laughs at the thought of the scrawny college student trying to work alongside her brothers in the field.
As her family falls apart, the five generation legacy of the ranch is threatened. She can't understand why no one in her family wants to preserve their heritage. Her brothers and sisters are intent on escaping the rural lifestyle to pursue lives outside of ranching, and her parents seem to find life on The D more and more distasteful as well. She, however, wants nothing more than to continue on.
Ursula, her mother, seems determined to ruin her life. The mother and daughter are continually at odds and she finally tells her daughter there is no longer a place for her on the ranch. Sky is forced to leave The D and leaves Montana as well, giving up her dream of ranching.
Everywhere she goes, it seems that, as a girl, she is considered inferior and realizes the truth in the words of the women in Berkely about inequality in the work place. Being female is a disadvantage, especially in the male-dominated ranching lifestyle. She is reduced to waiting tables and tries to forget The D. This is the best she can hope for.
She settles into a life of mediocrity, numbing herself with alcohol to help squash her dream, now believing it was all foolishness. After years of aimless living, and after another family death, she returns to Montana. The ranch is in ruins and there seems to be no way to save it. Selling out seems to be the only option. She desperately tries to keep it going, but between bankruptcy and the lack of support from her family, the odds are against her.
The threats she faces are different from the range wars and lawlessness her ancestors faced, but they are just as dangerous. In her determination to save her childhood home, she is forced to accept that The D cannot continue in the same tradition. Change is needed and she challenges her own beliefs as she struggles to restore the family ranch.
Through it all, Will supports her, often from afar, as she still can't see herself with a man whose interest in her has nothing to do with ranching. But he encourages her to go after her dream and helps her realize she can create a life that melds the different lifestyles and includes him.
With Will's help, she learns more about her ancestry. Long-buried family secrets are revealed, including the dark past of her great grandfather, Matt Daly, a man she idolizes.
She also finds out the reason her mother was always so bitter and why she resented her daughter. She can't help but blame herself, as in a way it seems to be her fault.
When she finds herself pregnant, her worst fears are realized. That, along with The D's financial problems, seem to ensure failure. She worries not only about her ability to succeed, but also fears that Will will desert her, as he doesn't want a child tying him down any more than she does.
Even before the child is born, mysterious things begin to happen on the ranch. It's obvious someone wants to jeopardize her success. The intimidation accelerates after she gives birth, but her determination to succeed grows stronger now that she has has a baby to protect.
The situation comes to a head when Rad Johnson, her mother's ex-boyfriend, attempts to gain control of the ranch and she must prove her resolve as she resorts to a desperate measure to save it. She devises a plan to end the threat and secure the continuation of The D. She realizes, that like her ancestors, she will stop at nothing to save her home, the ranch she loves.
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