A young girl looks forward to receiving mittens and oranges and candy at church on a Christmas Eve during the Depression, and when these special treats are stolen, her spirit sinks.
Loving her family but disliking the circus that is her grandparents' life, Lily is devastated when her grandfather passes away, a loss that leads her to develop an unexpected bond with her grandfather's equally grieving elephant.
With his father, the caretaker of Gettysburg's Evergreen Cemetery, off fighting in the Union Army, Fred Thorn endures the three-day Battle of Gettysburg and then helps his mother and grandfather bury around one hundred soldiers.
