Twelve-year-old Meg Buehler is frustrated when her family can't understand her interest in art, and tries to cope with the struggles and triumphs of pre-Civil War Ohio.

Elise Brannon loves to perform. And she's ready to put her acting skills to good use--by helping her family and friends forget, at least for a while, the depressing news from the battlefields.

"Why did her friend receive a young female slave as a Christmas present? And why does Maggie's friend so mistreat the miserable girl? When the spiritual revival known as the Great Awakening comes to Boston, Maggie's tender heart is stirred - and she knows she must dare to help the slave, so far from her home in the West Indies. In her act of compassion, Maggie learns that we best serve God by serving others." - from back cover.

In 1862, in Cincinnati, Ohio, as the Civil War progresses, eleven-year-old Daria and her twin brother, Andrew, begin to suspect that one of their mother's boarders is a Confederate spy.

Carrie tries to protect her Jewish friend from intolerant people.