Rissa Cosby is killed, a horrible accident, or is it murder? While the family is still mourning, Thomas Cosby remarries, much to the anguish and objections of his family.
Katherine Cosby, Thomas' mother, is the first to suspect Evelyn of murdering her daughter-in-law. Nellie, Thomas' oldest daughter is unhappy with her father and becomes a traveling companion with her grandmother Katherine who is a local mid-wife.
A Christian family, the Cosbys try to accept the new Mrs. Cosby and deal with the challenges of living in rural Kentucky in 1842.