After a hard life on a farm in northwestern Minnesota's Red River Valley, Doris Connor buries her philanderer husband and moves her century-old Sears and Roebuck farmhouse into the small Scandinavian community of Hallock, located on the edge of nowhere. She longs for a retirement heavy on solitude and serenity, but her plans are put on hold when her flamboyant sister and a ninety-year-old friend of the family move in. To further complicate matters,...

"Nina is used to feeling like the odd one out, both at school and in her large family. But while trying to fit in at summer camp, she discovers something even more peculiar: two majestic birds have built a nest in the marsh behind an abandoned infirmary. They appear to be whooping cranes, but that's impossible--Nina is an amateur bird-watcher, and all her resources tell her that those rare birds haven't nested in Texas for over a hundred years. When...