Carol Milford attends Blodgett College in Minneapolis and dreams about settling down in a prairie village and transforming it into a place of beauty. After graduation, she works as a librarian at St. Paul for three years. She meets Dr. Will Kennicott at a friend's house, and he begins courting her. After courting for a year, they marry and move to Kennicott's hometown of Gopher Prairie. Disappointed by her first impression of the Gopher Prairie, …showed first 75 words of 1049 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1049 total…role in changing life in Gopher Prairie. When Carol returns, she accepts the small town and its people as they are. However, she still fights small battles to make the town a better place. She gives birth to a daughter, hoping that the child will continue her fight. In the closing lines of the novel, while Carol talks about her struggle reform Gopher Prairie, Kennicott only half-listens to her and thinks only about the weather.