The Moody family moves from Colorado to Mass. in 1912 as Ralph enters his teen years. He finds city life troubling so is sent to his grandpa's farm in Maine where he finds understanding and kindness, especially from the pretty girl next door.

Ralph Moody, just turned twenty, had only a dime in his pocket when he was put off a freight in western Nebraska. It was the Fourth of July in 1919. Three months later he owned eight teams of horses and rigs to go with them. Everyone who worked with him shared in the prosperity—the widow whose wheat crop was saved and the group of misfits who formed a first-rate harvesting crew. But sometimes fickle Mother Nature and frail human nature made