Homespun Tales is a collection of three stories set in the Maine countryside, telling tales of the people of Maine. "Rose O' the River" is about the river of the title, flowing from the Saco Mountains to the Atlantic, and the effect it has on those who live by it. "The Old Peabody Pew" is in the Tory Hill Meeting house, which the Dorcas Society strives to keep maintained with slender means, and serves as the place of reunion of Justin Peabody and his sweetheart Nancy Wentworth when he returns home after fruitless efforts to make a place in the world. "Susanna and Sue" touches upon the lives of the Shaker sect, who vow simplicity, chastity, and holding goods in common, and the difficulties posed for them when young lovers find the rigors of Shaker life too much to bear.