Jake Grier left his domineering father Fritz's farm in small-town Grumbach to try making it as painter in Chicago, but has to move back when his wife Ellen looses her city teaching job and another in the high-school where they met. The move is resented from the start by their children, pre-teen Bert, whom grandpa scares, and rebellious young teen Amy. Fritz also bosses and humiliates Jake constantly, while his brother Mitch, who died in a car accident years ago, is idolized. Grdaually, a dark past lurks back, while Jake's marriage starts falling apart as both spouses are irresistibly attracted to earlier local lovers, in her case sheriff Tom Welton.