MacDonald's genius as a storyteller is seen once again in this moving, inspiring story of Alec Forbes and his friend Annie.

Orphaned as a child, Annie's special friendship with Alec is a source of strength and security which sees them both through many difficulties in their nineteenth-century Scotland.

Alec and Annie eventually are separated by circumstances when he leaves to study medicine at the university. There he meets beautiful Kate and falls helplessly in love. But she rejects him in favor of an arrogant upperclassman. Alec bitterly blames himself for Kate's eventual despair. How will he come to recognize that peace and tranquility, hallmarks of Annie's life, come from within?