When Kate enrolls in an art course at a community college, she discovers that her teacher Ellen Carruthers was Paul's college sweetheart. Kate is wary of the woman, but soon Ellen has enlisted Kate's help to solve an old family squabble. Ellen's family owns an abandoned mining town on High Hoot Ridge, but unless she can prove her claim of the land, it will be sold to a paper company, and the region's rich history-along with her family memories-will be lost. A series of old paintings holds clues to Ellen's grandfather's missing will, but can Kate track down the paintings and decipher the clues in time? As Kate wrestles with these mysteries, Ellen's relationship with Paul raises questions of a whole different kind. Meanwhile Paul has been invited to join the Chamber of Commerce, but his plans to revitalize the local economy only lead to frustration. Can he find a way to preserve the town's history and still make sure it has a future? Can they all find a way to make sense of the past?