Torn between her forbidden art and the Amish church, Annie Zook, the preacher's daughter, moves from her childhood home to live with her shunned friend, Esther, but living with an excommunicated woman only increases Annie's disapproval in her community.

Life-changing events rarely happen in quiet Hollyhill, Kentucky, and when they do, they are few and far between. But for young Jocie Brooke and her family, they happen all at once during the humid summer of 1964. Though on the surface things are just fine, it seems like everyone in Jocie's life has something they're not saying, something they're hiding from her--and from themselves. As Jocie digs into her family's past, she stirs up a whirlwind of...

Traces the story of prodigal son John Ames Boughton, who pursues a star-crossed, interracial romance with a high school teacher who is also the son of a preacher.

Betsy Nelson reluctantly returns home to care for her ailing father, while William Covington, a confirmed bachelor, comes to town to replace Betsy's father as the town's pastor.