Eight-year-old orphan Ethan and his three younger siblings are taken in by the Rush family and find themselves homesteading in South Dakota.

In 1907, while starting a new life in a Christian orphanage, eight-year-old Ethan and his three younger siblings hear about the prospect of being sent west on an orphan train and pray to stay together.

Fresh out of school herself, eighteen-year-old Mabel takes a teaching job in a farming community similar to the one where she grew up.

A collection of stories of life in the late nineteenth century, many reflecting the Christian faith of the author's family, including tales of a homemade anti-wrinkle concoction, a visit that proves money can't buy happiness, and a hard lesson in remembering to put things away.

Still content with her life as a minister's wife in a small Michigan farming community, Mabel observes with great interest the busy lives of family and friends.