When musicologist Doctor Lily Penleric is passed over, again, for a prominent teaching position, she decides to leave the city to visit her sister in the rugged mountains of Appalachia. While there, Lily, discovers a well spring of emotional "love songs" (ballads) that have been passed down through generations from the original Irish and Scottish immigrants who have settled in the area. Determined to document the history of the songs, and the recording...

The train taking nineteen-year-old teacher Christy Huddleston from her home in Asheville, North Carolina, might as well be transporting her to another world. The Smoky Mountain community of Cutter Gap feels suspended in time, trapped by poverty, superstitions, and century-old traditions. But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her - and her one-room school - as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and...

Minna proudly wears her new coat made of clothing scraps to school, where the other children laugh at her until she tells them the stories behind the scraps.

On t.p.: general stores, the Jud Nelson wagon, a praying rock, a Catawba Indian potter--and haint tales, quilting, home cures, (etc.).

Ruthie and her mother wonder how they will fulfill their obligation of getting the perfect Christmas tree to the town for the holiday celebration, since Papa has left the Appalachian area to go to war.

A struggle for power and control set in the mysterious hills of modern-day Appalachia centers on the Farrell family, who behave as though they are above the law and are prepared to use any means necessary to protect their off-the-grid way of life in rural Kentucky.