Jim has reached adulthood and faces the struggles of love and the impending war in which he is expected by his neighbors to play his part.

Although this is a novel of a young man reaching sexual maturity, the action is so delicately and sensitively handled that no reader should be offended.  In fact, the naiveté of Jim makes the novel more endearing.

The strength of the book lies in the tightness of the main plot and subplots.  They all meld together so well that the reader is always very near the main plot - Jim and his efforts to win Chrissy Steppe.

Jim, as the protagonist, is not depicted as perfect.  He wishes for Bucky Bucklaw’s death because Bucky and his family have practically relegated Chrissy to slavedom and to be the future wife of Bucky when he comes home from the war.

The plot takes a twist after this, and leaves the reader with the hope that life might just be better for both Jim and Chrissy.  This is a realistic story of love, loss and redemption, without explicit sex and violence.  This would be a great book to introduce young adults to the world of novel reading.