Its central character is Etta Place, "once a school teacher, later a bandit, always a friend of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." The play is set in a lonely mountian cabin in Utah. Its other characters are Etta's cousin Clara, a hard-crusted pioneer woman, and Florence Kilpatric, a female newspaper reporter in the days when female newspaper reporters were rare, but nevertheless highly skillful in probing into the emotional side of the news. The play rings true because, as Point West Magazine pointed out, "Kelly probably knows the Southwest as well as any writer today...his people are genuine, his ear for their conversation right on target...he translates his subject into vivid imagery."

Lantern in the Wind was unanimously chosen as the winner of the 1979 Texas Community Theatre Original One-Act Play Contest. The judge's report praised the play's "strong characters, believable dialogue, great audience appeal, and a good climax. The idea and its execution remarkably interesting." The play was premiered, along with two other winners, in September, 1979, by StageCenter in Bryan-College Station, Texas. Kelly is one of America's most prolific authors, with more than 100 plays published by all the major play publishers.

Is the story in Lantern in the Wind true? Are all the tales and exploits of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid true? Who can tell for certain what is real and what is legend!