Julie Crenshaw learns early in life the hypocritical nature of small townsfolk who makes everybody's business their own. Julie's (at the age of ten) reactions to the death of her beloved brother who was killed in war left everyone utterly amazed and they began to avoid her as if she had been stricken with leprosy. She doesn't understand her reactions but can't afford to question them or tell anyone how she feels. She begins to shelter her emotions and takes on a superficial, casual attitude towards life. She can't wait to leave Pineland. To escape small-town life, she goes to New York City, where people mind their own business; but soon discovers that the problems of living in New York are just as complex as sophisticated.