Summary:

Abigail is a clueless country girl who is a hall monitor at her school dance in 1953--Leap Toad, Kentucky. By a strange twist of fate, she slams into a tall and lonely philosophizing man who proposes to her that very night. She slaps him and tells him to go away. But they eventually run off and get married. 

This book tries to explain that love is about sticking with a person, even an unlikeable one, through thick and thin. Love is not a fuzzy feeling, but an act of loyalty. Abigail's life is full of terrible hardships, but she never resents her philosophizing, long-winded husband. This longsuffering woman brings up five kids, who grow up in various U.S. cities. I try to explain how living places tears us apart and how much a home can mean to kids.