Matthew and Elizabeth Sonnefelt have come to accept the fact they will never have children of their own. When a letter arrives, telling of the plight of three orphans, they see this as a possible answer to their prayers. But things are not so simple, and even after preparations are made and they travel halfway across the continent they must deal with the complications of retrieving these cast-off children.

Meanwhile Nick Coulter, a young man of 16, remains in Misty Creek to manage the mill. Nick wants to prove himself worthy of the trust the Sonnefelts have placed upon him. Through Nick's eyes, we not only see the challenges he faces, but changes occurring in the valley. He strives to aid a woman displaced from her home, knowing what homelessness feels like.

In Illinois, the Sonnefelts face unexpected complications after they successfully receive legal guardianship of the Wahls children. The most concerning is that the oldest, Lester, has not accepted that his father perished in a mining accident. The boy of 12 desperately wants to return to Idaho and seek his father, hoping that their lives can be returned to the way things were. The tension between Lester and the Sonnefelts, especially Matthew, grows and as two people who find themselves thrust into parenthood, Elizabeth and Matthew feel unprepared. Yet as they travel Elizabeth's teaching experience, and the hard years of Matthew's youth come into play as they find ways to reach out the broken-hearted Lester and his sisters.

During this time, Nick finds that the mill has been vandalized, and quickly determined who the culprit is Andy Page. Andy has long been someone that has made Nick's life difficult. Over time the extreme tension between these two young men lessens, and an understanding of each other grows.

The story's climax occurs when both the Sonnefelts and Nick are called to the settlement of Handcock's Bluff and the bedside of an ill friend. It is in that side trip the Sonnefelts manage to help Lester accept the truth about his father, and the possibility of friendship forms between Nick and Andy.