When it starts, Anna is making dinner because their mother has passed away. Caleb, her little brother, is bombarding her with questions about their mother, especially if it is true that she sang every day. He wants to hear the story about how he was born, even though Anna has told it to him many times. He can't remember anything because their mother died right after she gave birth to him. Anna tells him the story again.
When their father, named Jacob, comes home, he tells Anna and Caleb about his ad in the newspaper for a wife. Sarah Wheaton, a woman who has never been married, writes back, asking them about their father and his children. Anna wants to ask Sarah if she sings. The children start to write Sarah letters too.
Anna and Caleb are worried that she won't want to come because she loves the sea so much. However, Sarah asks if she can come and visit them. She tells them that she does sing.
When the day that she comes finally arrives, Jacob goes to pick her up. She brings her cat, Seal, and some gifts for Anna and Caleb. For Anna, she brings a sea stone, and for Caleb, she brings him a moon snail shell. Anna thinks that Sarah is already sad and missing the ocean.
When she gets settled, Seal does too. She sets up her shell collection on the window. Caleb and Anna are shy at first, but their dogs really like Sarah at first. Sarah does a lot of things with them, including picking flowers, making them stew for dinner, cutting their hair, and singing with them. She tells them that she wants to touch the sheep because she has never touched one before, but she has touched seals before in Maine, where she used to live.
Sarah really likes the sheep. She is horrified when a lamb dies. She spends more time with the family, doing things such as drawing and jumping into the haystacks.
Sarah likes to learn about what happens in this new land. She finds out that it is very cold and snowy during the winter. Right at the moment, though, she believes that it is hot and they go swimming in the cow pond.
Sarah wants to learn how to ride a horse named Jack. Jacob doesn't want her to ride Jack because he is sneaky. Eventually, he agrees to let her ride him tomorrow.
There is a storm and all of them get rush to get the animals into the barn. However, all of them forget the chickens, and Sarah runs into the storm to retrieve them.
Sarah learns how to drive a wagon, and she leaves. Caleb goes crazy, thinking that she left them forever. However, she comes back and her and Jacob plan to get married.
