Another installment in the popular saga of the Hamilton family of Ballydown - Rose Hamilton, in her fifties and a grandmother, has much to be thankful for in the steady love of her husband John and their relative prosperity. But she is concerned for her children: Sarah, recently widowed, is burdened with grief, while Sam, married to cold, selfish Martha, is struggling to bring up his six children. Only Hannah, happily married and living in England, causes Rose no worry, though she misses her dreadfully.