Gail Gilchriest

A shy boy is unable to make friends in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1942, until his parents give him a terrier puppy for his ninth birthday. The dog, which he names Skip, becomes well known and loved throughout the community and enriches the life of the boy, Willie, as he grows into manhood.

Whitney, a spoiled pre-teen from Philadelphia, is forced to move to the country when her parents feel the squeeze of economic hard times. A fish out of water, far from her comfort zone, she befriends an amazing horse, and undertakes a misguided journey back to her old life, only to discover that her family is her home.

Uncle Daniel Ponder moves to give away his fortune, while his niece, Edna Earle, tries to tighten the reins on Daniel's generosity. After Daniel marries teenager Bonnie Dee Peacock, her death leads to Daniel's trial for murder