In the early 1920s, the Bartons were a lightkeeping family on Jib Island several miles off the Maine coast. The adventures of the four Barton children and their parents in this isolated place are snapshots of the real lives of those who kept the lights burning to make travel safer for the many boats that sailed the cold and treacherous Maine waters. Visits from a very capable and loving grandmother and a spunky itinerant school teacher add excitement, as do the accidents of nature that the family must manage. When Mother leaves the island to await the birth of another child, twelve-year-old Elizabeth takes over the running of the house. At this point in the story, the real challenges begin.