Florence Silva epitomizes the strong-willed women of the Great Depression Era. Burdened with one setback after another, she survives with her immigrant husband on a poor farm in Shaw’s Flat. Her neighbors are simple folks: Dick and Della Silver—the pillars of the community; Julius Verkuyl—a single father raising three sons on a dilapidated farm; the Roderick brothers—caring for a reclusive mother; and Jack Frost—a reticent man who materializes at opportune times. Life for the inhabitants of this rural hamlet in the foothills of California’s Sierra-Nevada Mountains circulates around a two-room school and a general store, which is operated by Johnny Ratto and his esoteric niece, Mathilde.

Late in life, Florence struggles to fulfill a promise made to her dying daughter. She has been left an unruly grandson to raise. Skip rebels against his grandparents; against his faith, which he believes has betrayed him; against school, which attempts to confine him; and even against a good friend who threatens to steal away the attention he craves. Poignantly, often humorously, Ceilings moves from one misadventure to another. Faith, nature, friends, sports, and Annetta Fowler—an extraordinary teacher—pave Skip’s road to civility. Just when he is beginning to find himself, Skip’s life is turned upside down.