Emily is feeling very insecure with her future as she begins to take the entrance exam for college hoping to get the scholarship - which Ilse and Teddy are also trying to get. On the way to exam they meet Jack and Emily pays for him to do the exam as well. Ilse tries to play matchmaker to get Jack and Emily together so she can go after Teddy.

With her father's wedding approaching fast, Ilse is resenting the fact that she will have a step-mother that isn't Laura. She isn't about to let her father forget the fact that Laura and Iris are two different people.

The family is whole again when Jimmy returns home. Laura still wants a divorce but Ian Bowles returns and he now owns a share of New Moon. Emily comes up with the idea to marry in order to pay for Aunt Laura's divorce so she can retain rights to the farm. She tries to become a mail order bride. While she is writing it Teddy arrives, at first she ignores him, but when he climbs up to her window they go outside to talk.

Perry returns to Blair Water only to be leaving shortly to fight in the Boer War. Other strange occurances are also going on with a love letter finding its way to Cousin Jimmy and a stranger coming to town.

Jack is still trying to make a go of his fox hunting business and talks Cousin Jimmy into being a partner after he doesn't know how else to pay for Emily's fees; not to mention that Aunt Laura is pregnant. While the fox business turns out to be very profitable, the dreams of being rich get Emily's imagaination going into overdrive meaning a hard lesson to learn.

Emily is feeling as happy as can be and has been writing for weeks and sending her work off. As she is waiting Rhoda takes off with Emily's mail before she gets a chance to see it. She does this for a while as Emily is receiving acceptance letter and money cheques from a New York publisher Thelonius Grand. Her plans goes astray when the publisher days that he is coming to the island to meet Emily. It all comes out in the end although Rhoda nearly pulls off the scam only to have Emily give her a gift. Ian also leaves New Moon and is believed to have committed suicide. He gave his rights up to Laura for New Moon and she is left to raise Margaux's son.

Overjoyed at finishing her first book she goes to see Teddy to see what he thinks of it. Only he breaks her heart when he is brutally honest about it bringing back memories of Dean Priest. Emily then falls down the stairs and remembers back through a series of flashbacks the moments in her life that have shaped her future.