At the age of twenty-one, Peggy Malone is the owner of a successful family business, employing her sister, Megan, her father, Tom, and her neighbor, Tillie. Peggy's Pantry is the hot spot café in Riverside, serving the best pastries, sandwiches, soups and coffee.

Baking in the wee hours for Peggy's Pantry are taking their toll on Tillie Linden, so her husband, Joe, decides to help. The dynamic duo makes a great pair in the kitchen, creating new and delicious treats for the café patrons, but will this partnership last?

Now a junior at North High School, Megan is drawn to a handsome boy in her history class with bright blue eyes and blond hair. Relationships are hard for the shy brunette, but she feels love stirring. Will he break her heart?

Peggy is worried about her little sister—she seems to be thinking with her heart, and not her brain, and Peggy doesn't want to see her sister wind up wasting her life because she chose to not go to college.

It feels like all the strings are being pulled on everyone in this little family, and when Kansas weather wreaks havoc in Riverside, their lives are changed in seconds. Will this family be ripped apart as well, or will Mother Nature's winds only tighten the binds between this patched together family?