Nine-year-old Josefina, the youngest of four sisters living in New Mexico in 1824, tries to help run the household after her mother dies.

In 1934, during the Depression, Kit's cantankerous uncle comes to live in the Cincinnati boardinghouse run by her parents, enlisting her aid in transcribing his complaining letters to the editor of the local newspaper and inspiring her to write a different kind of letter of her own.

Josefina and her sisters distrust learning to read and write, as well as other changes their Tia Dolores is bringing to the household, because they fear they will lose their memories of their mother.

During World War II, nine-year-old Molly goes to school and with her friends tries to aid the war effort.

When she discovers that Nellie and her sisters have been sent to an orphanage, Samantha, now living with her aunt and uncle in New York City, tries to help her friends as much as she can.

In Williamsburg in 1774, nine-year-old Felicity rescues a beautiful horse who is being beaten and starved by her cruel owner.

While spending the summer at Grandmary's summer home on Goose Lake, Samantha and her twin cousins decide to visit the island where Samantha's parents were drowned during a storm.

Molly conquers her fear of swimming underwater when she and the other campers at Camp Gowonagin divide into two teams to play Color War.

Molly's excitement at performing in a big show is exceeded only by the announcement that her father is returning home from the war.

In 1825 when Josefina trusts a trader in Santa Fe with an important deal, she makes a surprising discovery.