When sixteen-year-old Thankful Curtis must leave Bright Island, Maine, for the first time in 1937, she has trouble adjusting to life on the mainland, new people, and "proper schooling," and yearns for her days of farming with her father and sailing.

Constance, who has had one year of college, and her two younger siblings live on their own in Maine while their parents are overseas.

A small island off the coast of Maine is the setting for this story of two brothers who love the same girl.