"A Godwit classic paperback."

At 11 years of age, Sarah has just suffered the death of her father, a well-respected surgeon in a small Minnesota town. There is the additional burden of her father's final words: "Sarah's got to be something, something grand, an artist ..." She applies herself diligently to the study of art, but after some years, faces the reality that she will never be brilliantly successful as a painter. Focused on fulfilling her father's dead-bed wish, she overlooks her true talent: skill and artistry at the piano. Along her journey she experiences the daily crises that all families face, graduates from high school, attends college, falls in love, and becomes engaged.