"Nora Blake, who comes to teach school in Banner, Idaho, lives in the home of Bishop Shepherd and becomes acquainted with a Latter-day Saint family. She meets Jed Oliver, a local rancher, and is astonished to learn that he cannot read. She teaches him to read. Nora takes up a homestead. Her ties to the valley become deeper and she grieves with the family when Trudy Shepherd dies of influenza. Through truths and hope expressed at the funeral services, and afterwards, Nora learns significant principles of the gospel. Finally, Jed explains the mystery of Old Free, a hermit, and non-Mormon, who is really Jed's grandfather, and how the old man had watched over Jed for many years while his father prospected. Nora, by now deeply in love with Jed, wonders why he does not speak to her of his own feelings." [Publisher's synopsis]
