 Woven through the story runs a frank description of the children's thoughts, motives, struggles, feelings and fears as well as their prayers and their developing Christian faith.Annette Burnier lives with her father, elderly grandmother and young brother Dani in a small village in the Swiss mountains.When she is eight years old her mother dies just after Dani's birth, and since the family is too poor to afford a nanny, Annette takes the responsibility upon herself, arranging with the schoolmaster to study at home under her grandmother's guidance.