Her parents think a teaching position in a coal town in beneath her station, while most of the town thinks she is too pampered and soft to survive the hurtles of teaching in the town's saloon with limited resources. Both sides think she is not suitable for the position because she is too much a lady. Both sides make assumptions based on class and gender stereotypes. But, Elizabeth not only survives, she thrives, and brings the town's people around to her modern approach to teaching.