From Missouri is a story of a young schoolteacher who comes out West from Missouri, invited by a series of letters from some mysterious Mr. Owen, who says there is an open teacher position in his city. When she arrives, it turns out that "Mr. Owen" was, in fact, a prank: some cowboys thought it was fun to write letters on their boss's typewriter. When Jane Stacey arrives, everyone is shocked to discover not a middle-aged lady but a beautiful young woman. Even after discovering she was lied to, she decides to stay on. Moreover, she has to find who Frank Owens was. Soon young Miss Stacey finds out all the trouble a pretty young woman has to endure when living among cowboys.

Pearl Zane Grey (1872 – 1939) was a prolific American author and dentist whose novels and short stories were adapted into 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. He was best known for popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts. In his works, Grey idealized the American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was his best-selling book.