Ariel Custer, alone after the deaths of parents and grandmother, starts out to make a life for herself. She meets Judson Granniss, who lives with his mother in a home of which she inherited half. The other half is owned and occupied by Emily Dillon, whose father cheated the Granniss family and split the house in his will possibly to make amends. But Mrs. Granniss is a self-righteous and opinionated woman and makes life miserable for her housemates. Emily patiently endures the takeover of her home and Judson is eventually driven out by his mother's controlling schemes to pair him off with an intolerable girl. His friendship with Ariel develops and she leads him to think about and trust God. Emily begins to take her life into her own hands, eventually taking day trips to get away from the harsh tongue of Mrs. Granniss. When she doesn't return from one such excursion, the family and then the town become alarmed and begin a search for her. When it's learned that Emily willed a small bungalow to Ariel, accusations of murder begin to surface with fingers pointing to Ariel and the Grannisses. A surprise ending will keep pages turning to the end!