Faced with the mortality of her beloved mare, Beauty, and while trying to provide guidance and support to her twelve-year-old niece, Trina starts to reminisce her twenty-year friendship with Beauty. Trina was a shy and nervous twelve-year-old that wasn’t just happy in the shadow of her big sister, Talicia, but actively sought it out. This happened despite her not really noticing or caring that she and Talicia had been cast from the same mould, being physically similar, having similar names and being dressed in matching clothes as infants, even having matching horses to ride that happened to be almost physically identical sisters themselves. Just as Trina acquires her dream horse, she also starts to break out of the mould cast in Talicia’s image. Beauty’s pinto markings represent the individuality and independence that Trina wasn’t sure she was capable of. While her Arabian breeding, the spirit and endurance that Trina would need throughout their friendship. In amongst the good times Trina experiences first love, conflicted loyalty, fickle friends, lack of direction, medical complications, strained family relationships and Talicia’s death. During this time Beauty provides the consistency and unconditional friendship that helps Trina navigate the many defining moments that life throws at her, taking her from adolescence through to adulthood. Thinking that the loss of a horse doesn’t compares with the loss of her big sister some years earlier, Trina is shocked by her emotional state when she says her final goodbye to Beauty. With time comes reflection, and Trina eventually reconciles her grief over losing Beauty. Ultimately discarding the arrogant streak she’d had towards others experiencing grief since Talicia’s death. She also finds comfort in being a ‘big sister’ to her niece, a degree of closure to the loss of Talicia and Beauty, and a sense of contentment towards the future.