Using family photos, records, recollections, and historical research, Gundy follows seven generations through time and space: from Bavaria and Alsace to Ohio to Illinois in the 1830s; from frontier dwellings with dirt floors to homes with refrigerators. He also follows them intellectually, from a strict to a broader interpretation of religious doctrine in the 1870s, which led to a schism within the already small Mennonite community; from a longstanding position on pacifism and conscientious objection to some questioning of this stance during World War II.