Having suffered abuse and misfortune for most of her life, a young girl searches for a better life and finally finds it in the home of a loving woman with several foster children.

At the turn of the century, an immigrant's daughter inherits her family's Nebraska farm and her father's fierce love for the land. Fifteen years later she has made the family a fortune through her canny management of the farm, but has never forgotten the young man who left the prairie to seek his fortune.

With three grown children and a lifetime of memories, Penelope Keeling realizes that something is missing: the simple joy she knew as a child playing on the beach. So she embarks on a journey to discover the secret of happiness for her friends, her family and herself.

10-year-old Luke lives with his parents and grandparents in Arkansas during the Korean War. To pick the cotton in their fields, they must hire "hill people" and Mexicans. Hank is a "hill person" who doesn't take kindly to people looking down on him. Luke witnesses a fight that Hank gets into that causes the death of another person. With better times ahead to look forward to, the town gets excited about a new invention - television.

When Scotty discovers a poignant letter written by a mysterious woman called Lizzie he cannot get her out of his mind. Putting thoughts of his upcoming wedding aside, he is compelled to write Lizzie a letter of his own. A romantic correspondence ensues and flourishes into a love so powerful, not even a century and a half of time can keep them apart. Spanning an era from the Civil War to the present day, the perils of Lizzie's war torn present threaten...

When an estranged friend refuses the Congressional Medal of Honor for service during World War II, a retired judge tries to find out why and in the process solves a mystery, heals his friendship, saves a marriage, and falls in love.

The film portrays Mary Rose, a beautiful young woman who feels restricted by her overly protective adoptive brothers. Later, Mary Rose searches for her real family and must make the most important decision of her young life--to find where her true home really lies.