A family, like a quilt, can be pieced together in many ways. And a quilt, like a family, is rich with stories. Lacey's great-grandmother has a trunkful of family quilts, and stories, she loves to share with Lacey. And the stories the old quilts tell help Lacey understand not only the generations that have come before her, but her own family as well.Take Hattie, Lacey's great-great-great-grandmother, growing up in Mount Hope, Illinois in 1856. Illinois is a free state, but the law allows slave hunters to search for run way slaves, and tensions are pretty high between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in town. Hattie is caught in the middle: her best friend's father is the local constable, and Hattie's own father seems to be involved in some pretty dangerous -- and illegal -- business. But nothing can prepare Hattie for the tragedy that awaits the little town when the tensions finally explode.