Faces in the Moon is the story of three generations of Cherokee women, as viewed by the youngest, Lucie, a woman who has been able to use education and her imagination to escape the confines of her rootless, impoverished upbringing. When her mother’s illness summons her back to Oklahoma, Lucie finds herself confronted with the legacy of a childhood she has worked hard to separate from her adult self.

Her mother, Gracie, and her maternal aunt, Auney, are members of the Cherokees’ "lost generation," women who rejected the traditional rural ways in search of a more glamorous life as autonomous working women.