When a sibling unexpectedly inherits his grandfather’s dairy farm, Will O'Shaughnessy turns to selling Fords in rural, pre-World War I southwestern Wisconsin. But over the next two decades, even as his automobile business booms and he raises a family with his true love, Mary, Will yearns to return to farming. Meanwhile, the small town of Ashley Springs weathers the war, the booming 20s, prohibition and the Great Depression. There’s family drama in devastating illness and an estranged, alcoholic brother. Then, as automobile sales plunge in the deepening 1930s economic crisis, Will sees a reason to finally trade cars for cows. But can he convince his wife and daughters to follow him back out of town?