It's 1980 an' Mis' Marilue Gracie Perkins has her life figured. She's raisin' her family in East Tennessee as all her kin have done since before the Revolutionary War. Livin' in the shadow of the Great Smokey Mountains, she has everthang she wants: family nearby, a lovin' man, good young'uns an' a nice home. However, her life turns upside down when her talented husband, George, is offered a job in the state of Washington. To give him his dream, she must tear up her roots to live in a strange land among strange people. Courage runs deep in Marilue's heritage and she's never run from a fight, but this is a battle of a different sort. Can she do what must be done? Can she replant her family in the West where the good folks move fast, talk funny an' don't take to either sweet tea or grits?