Hilda's parents were immigrants from Norway who came to the United States in the late 1800s. Hilda's Papa settled his family in Minnesota on a small farm. Hilda loved her life on the Minnesota farm, but she had to learn to accept necessary change and to trust God in all things.

The Johnson family move from their Minnesota farm to a rural town in the state of Washington.

Message of the Mountain is the third book in the Maple Tree trilogy. In the second book, Song of the Brook, the Johnson family move from their Minnesota farm to a rural town in the state of Washington. As this new adventure opens, the family is about to find out how life in town in the early 1900s differs from their previous experiences living in the country. For one thing, the new inventions of the day are amazing! Through their adventures, the family gets to know the message of the mountain–“as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people.” Christian fiction written by Matilda Nordtvedt.