Stepping Stones: to the City Beautiful

In 1823 Richard Harris rides away from what is left of his inheritance on the family’s Virginia plantation after his father’s death. He has never seen eye-to-eye with his brother, Tom. He develops a booming business in freighting and his wife, Jenny, creates a flourishing dame school in upstate New York. Their only heartache remains the lack of children in their marriage. Everything changes when their customers learn the Harrises have met Mormon missionaries and joined their peculiar religion. As their livelihood diminishes and family and friends deride them for this choice, they quietly leave their home and head West to join fellow congregants in Mississippi. They briefly visit the Harris plantation so Richard can make peace with Tom. Meanwhile, brother Tom lost the love of his life when she died giving birth to twin girls. He resents even looking at the girls because they remind him so much of his late wife. He has given Mandy, the black maid, total care of the two. When childless Jenny meets the seven-year-old twins, it seems her heart beats for the first time. She vows that she and Richard will care for the girls as their own. For the next seasons of their lives the little family deals with mobs, murder and horrid mayhem. The story gives an insightful look into how persecution and raw brutality affects individuals and families. Can love, forgiveness and faith survive on a desolate frontier? Stepping Stones provides a pathway to the answers.