Eight-year-old Cassie Witting is upset when she finds out that her mother, Sarah, is expecting a baby, but writing in the journal that belonged to her brother Caleb helps her sort out her feelings and understand that Sarah will always love her.

Quila and her father, living alone in a remote Maine lighthouse in the 1850s, find their lives profoundly changed when a baby washes ashore and they decide to keep her as part of their family