After a young boy loses the wooden Nativity set that belonged to his dead father, the widow McDowell persuades gruff Jonathan Toomey, the best wood-carver in the valley, to carve a new one and to let the boy watch him work.
After returning from the Civil War, two men spark a feud between their families that leads to battles and causes the families and their neighbors to seek vengeance against each other.
A compassionate "comedy of values" probes the growing pains of seven college housemates from the 1960's who have drifted apart and have been reunited at the funeral of a friend.