The quiet life of newspaperman Ernie Kensington is turned upside down by a series of unusual events -- the appearance in his hometown of Grace Counts, a school teacher whose wisdom and beauty seem to captivate not only Ernie but many others in the small town of Clearview. There are those however who do not like her, and there is one who seems madly in love with her. This is the classic story of the small town where everyone knows everyone and the gossip mill runs things. The reader is drawn into an unusual web of intrigue where characters seem to appear and disappear and where love is always threatened by the worst kind of enmity and murder.