When the sod roof of the Bowers family house caves in during a torrential September rain, Lissa Bowers and her daughter, Jolie, shepherd the children into the barn for the night. Skies clear the next morning, but the storms are not over for the Bowers family: Mr. Bowers has been arrested in Lincoln in the trouble between the farmers and the railroad. When everything comes to a head at a community meeting, Jolie is the only one who can make peace.