Follows the Cross Country Quilters, a group of five friends, on their quest to complete the "challenge quilt" that is symbolic of each woman's personal goals.

When the creative residents of Elm Creek gather the week after Thanksgiving to work on quilts for Project Linus, they respond to Sylvia's provocative questions to alleviate respective personal challenges and learn helpful lessons about the strength of human connections.

Meditating on the weddings she has attended in Elm Creek Manor throughout the years on the morning of her daughter's wedding day, Sarah McClure evaluates the symbolic features on a wedding quilt designed to display the signatures of beloved guests.

"An uplifting story of three grief support group dropouts--women united in loss and rescued through friendship. An accident has left Grace's husband in a vegetative state. Nan, a widow for twenty years, is feeling the emptiness now that her children are grown. Monica is reeling over her husband's sudden death and the revelation of his infidelity"--

Sarah, struggling to find a job and a sense of place in her new town, finds herself learning how to quilt from a cantankerous old woman who also teaches her about the deep love that can exist between friends.

Having joined Elm Creek's quilting circle, newest member and chef Anna remembers her past and present experiences in her community's kitchens and becomes the writer of the group's official cookbook, in a tale complemented by one hundred recipes.

In the aftermath of a difficult divorce, Bonnie heads to Maui to help her friend Claire launch a quilter's retreat, a getaway marked by beautiful sunsets, regional quilting activities, and her ex's plot to claim Elm Creek Quilts' resources.

Sylvia Bergstrom Compson and her fiance Andrew embark on a difficult journey to find her mother's missing heirloom quilts, all the while discovering secrets regarding her mother's life and untimely death.

The Elm Creek Quilters are home for the holidays, during which days spent hand-stitching heartfelt gifts for loved ones brings forth the true spirit of generosity and kindness, especially when Gwen gifts a quilt project to her mentor's bone-marrow donor.

Facing radical changes in their roles and outlooks when the men in their lives join the Union forces, the women of Elm Creek Valley's quilting bee begin an agonizing period of waiting that is shaped by their husbands' military duties and their respective circumstances.