Born of missionary parents, Anita spends her childhood on the Navajo reservation in the early Thirties, survives boarding school life in Iowa, and University years cut short by World War II. As a young Navy wife, she follows her husband not only from coast to coast in the U.S., but to Occupied Japan (between two wars), and later to Greece, where she experiences yet another culture and forms lasting friendships. After the premature death of her husband, she develops new roots in rural Connecticut, growing into her own identity as a writer, as well as becoming the matriarch of an extensive family tree.