On a farm in the middle of the prairie, ten-year-old Sylvie struggles to understand why her mother gave up singing on stage while she sets off on an adventure of her own as the town reporter.
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.
"If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary French town where there were gray skies and you wanted color and light and sun, what might you become?"--Dust jacket flap.
While in North Dakota helping her Aunt Frankie prepare for a possible flood, Lucy finds her voice as a poet with the help of her two-year-old brother Teddy, the rest of their family, and a few cows.
