After graduating from high school, Emily Webster longs to go off with everyone else, but she must stay home and take care of her grandfather, a Civil War veteran, and it is at home that she discovers many new adventures.

Carney's house party: In the summer of 1911, Carney looks forward to hosting a month-long house party at her Deep Valley home with not only her Vassar college roommate as a guest but all the old crowd, especially her high school sweetheart who moved to California four years before. Winona's pony cart: Almost-eight-year-old Winona, living in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Minnesota, knows she has a special red dress and lots of friends for her birthday...