In 1932 on a farm in Minnesota, a mother dies leaving her teenage daughter to raise an orphaned boy and keep house for six adult men in her family. The boy finds solace on top the windmill, and an elderly uncle seeks sanctuary inside the cupola on the barn. Three of the girl's brothers leave home to marry, her uncle dies and the boy is reclaimed by his natural father when he turns nineteen. She fills the void in her home with another kind of orphan, a runaway teenage girl. Complications from shattered relationships, new social ties and normal events of farm life create constant challenges. Just when all seems well, the catastrophe occurs. Through the screen of humor and pathos, ordinary people struggle to find that balance between themselves and their environment. Their actions are neither heroic nor tragic. Through joys and sorrows they seek fulfillment and find a sustained optimism.