Fifteen-year-old Tamara Anderson is tired of constantly moving in order for her father to find new inspiration for his landscape paintings. In 1954, when her family moves to a rural farmhouse in Sherman, NY, Tamara wants to settle down and make it home. As Tamara and her siblings grow to love their new neighbors and get their first glimpse at a stable life, their mother is suddenly diagnosed with tuberculosis. Left to her own devices, Tamara struggles with her desire to stay in Sherman, her fear of losing her mother and her anger at being left in charge of two younger siblings when her father is off painting.