Laura helps out on the family farms in the Big Woods and on the prairie.

When John Hale's parents moved from Chicago to a farm in the Dakota Territory in the late 1880s, he was not happy (too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and that is just the beginning); but after a year, and now eleven, he has settled in and made some friends at school--but when a sunny day in January 1888 turns abruptly into a deadly blizzard he will need all his strength and courage to survive what became known to history as The Children's Blizzard....

Laura and her sisters share some good and bad times when they attend different schools near their various prairie homes.

When Laura and her family move from Wisconsin to Kansas, they make friends with a helpful neighbor who comes to their aid later when they settle in the Dakota Territory.

Laura and her pioneer family struggle against hardships on the Kansas frontier, including a prairie fire, a grasshopper invasion, and a blizzard.

Laura, her mother, and other family members share many exciting adventures while living as pioneers on the American frontier.