Inspired by a school writing assignment, Kelly takes a fresh look at her family's Michigan farm and notes the ways in which her parents have chosen to nurture the land and the wildlife living on it.

An old warrior and a young boy travel through the frigid cold of the north to teach the fierce North Wind how to live peacefully with his brothers, allowing the formerly uninhabitable land of Michigane to be settled.

Young Stella loves books so much, her books begin to take over the farmhouse. "Why, Stell, you need your own library to hold those books," her pa tells her, so he and the neighbors build her one! She calls it "The Mermaid's Purse," since the midwife said Stella was born in one. Stella opens the Purse to her neighbors and travels around the countryside, sharing her books door-to-door. Not everyone gives them a chance at first, like grouchy Pig Ears...

On the Michigan frontier, while the adults disagree over whether there are enough settlers yet to build a church, a young girl tries to recall what church is all about.