Penny Patch, a naïve school-teacher, finally gets the courage  to move away from her parents’ home to Millard, a small nearby town.  She moves into an apartment in an old gracious Southern home with two older ladies and a mechanic who “lives like a shadow in the back rooms,” and begins teaching at the local elementary school.

        Almost immediately she begins receiving mysterious letters signed by Taugh Bow, which reveal that someone is in grave danger.

        She meets a jovial chimney sweep named Dalton who rescues her when she has a flat tire in a rain storm and helps her as she tries to solve the mystery of the letters.

        Her class is full of endearing and challenging students and her ties to home are still a big part of her life.

        Penny and Dalton must race against time to find the writer of the letters before something tragic happens….