As in her previous novels, the days of the western settlers are made vivid by the Lovelaces' unusual sense of the drama of colonization. One Stayed At Welcome opens with the founding of Welcome by two young men, Larry and Dan, who have made a lasting friendship of the trek from the East. Their little town grows rapidly and within two years many new faces are to be found on the shores of Lake Welcome. Among the varied newcomers is an old school teacher and his daughter Lillie, whom Dan and Larry remember as a little girl playing on the decks of a Mississippi river steamer. Now she is a matured young woman, and before a winter has passed both boys are in love with her. Soon their hidden jealousy flames up in a youthful quarrel and Welcome rocks with the news that Dan and Larry are no longer sharing their joint claim. Their quarrel reaches its climax the night of a great prairie fire, and with it comes a new friendship through mutual self-sacrifice." (Summary courtesy of the publisher)