It is May 1895, and the Lee children greet the spring weather with jubilation. It's a time for picking wildflowers, awaiting the births of baby farm animals, and helping Pa and Ma with the chores. However, this idealistic world is about to change.

While riding his horse one day, ten-year-old Danny Lee meets their new neighbor from Virginia, Robert Overhouser, never knowing how much this one man will change his life. Even though the Civil War happened thirty years ago, some members of the very Yankee community of Bluff Point, New York, isn't too happy about welcoming a Southerner into their midst.

The friction between Mr. Overhouser and the rest of the town spills over to the Lee children, and Danny and his siblings soon find themselves coming to the defense of the Overhouser family in school. However, throughout the conflict between the town and the family, both sides learn valuable lessons about prejudice, forgiveness, and acceptance.