This is a novel about family ties, the heartaches and joys of a turn of the century family in Pennsylvania. The father is a minister who sees good in everyone. Mom is a stay at home mom and the children are like kids everywhere. The book takes us into the small village of Ladykirk where the inhabitants "drink from the same cup" of joys and sorrows. Things happen in Ladykirk, but as one person says "they have a way of settling down again." The characters come alive and make you want to be there to help when Lucy is expecting her beau and cries over the ragged carpet. Her father tells her that young men do not notice those things. Mary, the mom and the one with the sweet spirit, "hates the heathen" when asked to give up her birthday surprise but promises to try to grow in grace.

The story begins in 1881 when the Reverend David Lyall brings his new wife from the city to his rural manse expecting to stay only a year. Twenty-five years and three grown children later, David is still the spiritual leader of the Calvinist congregation. The plot explores the small joys and quiet griefs of a minister's life as well as what happens when a wealthy young man falls in love with the minister's daughter.