Ave Maria is having a premature midlife crisis, brought on by her continued spinsterdom, the death of her mother, and a revelation about the circumstances surrounding her birth: the man Ave Maria always thought was her dad is not, in fact, her father. Amid two marriage proposals, a mine accident, a visit by Elizabeth Taylor to the town, town gossips, mean elderly relatives, and cruel cheerleaders' tricks, Ave Maria handles the trauma with surprising grace.
Even Yankees will love this (slightly saccharine) Southern town, a sort of southern Lake Wobegon, and the charming heroine who learns about love and death, faith and character.