 Exasperated by the constant demands of his siblings, John-Boy heads out for an isolated cabin to spend a day by himself so he can think and write. On arriving he discovers Sarah, a neighbor he once dated. She has run away from the people in Richmond that her strict mother sent her to. When Sarah comes down with a fever, John-Boy enlists the aid of Granny Ketchum, a woman wise in the ways of folk medicine. Sarah s condition, and John-Boy s responsibilities towards it, seem to mature him overnight.