Hallie Jo Everheart is growing up on a farm in the Ozarks, and life isn't going well. Her mother dies when Hallie is only nine, her brothers treat her like dirt, and her overburdened father is sunk into grief, oblivious. Then she meets Old Man Morrison, a reclusive, cranky, and slightly terrifying neighbor who can fix a broken piece of farm equipment but is not so good with people-until, unexpectedly, he changes Hallie's life when he discovers her talent for drawing.
As a gifted young woman ready to work hard to meet her goals, Hallie makes her way through good times and bad, falls in and out of love, gets the education she's always wanted, and experiences the tragedies and comedies of a world that's always full of surprises.
Over the course of ten stories that take her from girlhood to old age, Hallie finds unpredictable mentors-men and women who serve as guides and role models over the years: a beloved friend whose early death shatters her world, an older couple who help her ride out her sorrows, an art teacher with her own sad tale.
Settling into her beloved Ozark landscape, Hallie grows and changes, and, ever grateful, she reflects on the people who taught her that "the most important thing you can do in life is to give of yourself, to help those in need who can benefit from your friendship and support." And, in the end, Hallie herself becomes a mentor for another promising young woman.
