1953:

"So, um...this is awkward, but...that's my grandma you're sitting on." A half smile inched across the young man's face, and he motioned to the headstone I was leaning against.
"I am so sorry," I said, quickly standing. "I didn't realize—I mean, I should have realized—I just—I'm sorry."
The man chuckled. "Told you it was awkward," he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he continued to smile. "I'm Joe."

Life in Backus is, in Ella's mind, akin to the observation in Pride and Prejudice: "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?"

Ella wants out, and the arrival of her friend's handsome cousin threatens that dream. Joe starts working her job in the diner, gains the respect of the town, and—worse—causes her to like him.

2008:

"You probably aren't used to people just walking into your house. At least, not ones you've never met." The strange girl giggled.
"Um," I shifted uncomfortably. "Hi?"
She took my greeting as an invitation to step farther into my room.
"Who are you?"
"Oh!" She laughed. "I'm Rosie; I live next door. You're Jane, right?"

Jane, who recently moved from the Twin Cities, just hopes to fit in. The talkative Rosie and a position on the Backus newspaper help that happen...but as she continues looking into the town's past, she finds more mysteries than explanations.