On July 5, 1906 in Cold Sassy, Georgia, E. Rucker Blakeslee, proprietor of the general store and three weeks a widower, eloped with Miss Love Simpson who is half his age. Love is revealed to be a Yankee upon which such an identity remains a stigma in the South at this time. On that day, fourteen-year-old Will Tweedy's adventures began and the pious town is invigorated.