"Some towns keep their history in glass display cases in a museum with creaky wooden floors," Burt Benson often said. However, in this fictional story centered in the small Midwest town of Taylor Bend, seven decades of American history seep through the sturdy brick walls of Benson's Garage. The roaring '20s find Burt devising a plan to set up a mechanic's workshop and gas station, as he becomes enthralled with the growing popularity of Henry Ford's automobiles. It doesn't take long for Burt's garage to turn into the hub of local news, especially when the country is grappling with the spread of tuberculosis and then later with a second world war. Meanwhile the Benson family marches through its own trauma spanning across three generations.