A family, like a quilt, can be pieced together in many ways. And a quilt, like a family, is reach with stories. Lacey's great-grandmother has a trunkful of family quilts, and stories, she loves to share with Lacey. And the stories the old quilts tell help Lacey understand not only the generations that have come before her, but her own family as well. Take Ellen, Lacey's great-great-great-great-grandmother, growing up on an Illinois farm in 1830. Ellen asks her father to bring her some blue calico; instead, he brings her a new stepmother, Julia, and Julia's difficult son, Silas. It isn't until clashes between Silas and Ellen's father threaten to tear her new family apart that Ellen realizes how much Julia has come to mean to her—but is it too late to save her patchwork family?

A family, like a quilt, can be pieced together in many ways. And a quilt, like a family, is rich with stories. Lacey's great-grandmother has a trunkful of family quilts, and stories, she loves to share with Lacey. And the stories the old quilts tell help Lacey understand not only the generations that have come before her, but her own family as well. Take Hattie, Lacey's great-great-great-grandmother, growing up in Mount Hope, Illinois in 1856. Illinois is a free state, but the law allows slave hunters to search for run way slaves, and tensions are pretty high between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in town. Hattie is caught in the her best friend's father is the local constable, and Hattie's own father seems to be involved in some pretty dangerous—and illegal—business. But nothing can prepare Hattie for the tragedy that awaits the little town when the tensions finally explode.

A family, like a quilt, can be pieced together in many ways. And a quilt, like a family, is rich with stories. Lacey's great-grandmother has a trunkful of family quilts, and stories, she loves to share with Lacey. And the stories the old quilts tell help Lacey understand not only the generations that have come before her, but her own family as well. Take Daniel, Lacey's great-great-grandfather, growing up on his grandparents' Illinois farm in 1890. Daniel is happy on the farm, but he is determined to find a way to get out west to visit his father so they can be a whole family again. He hatches an ingenious if risky scheme to make the trip, but when he arrives at the depot in Valentine, Nebraska, he finds the little town abuzz with fears of a Sioux uprising. And an even bigger surprise awaits him at his father's cabin, forcing Daniel to rethink his idea of what makes a family whole.

A traveling circus comes to Bloomington, Illinois, in 1918, and Ida Lou sees an opportunity to realize her dream of becoming an aerialist—and perhaps find her absent father.