Six girls just out of high school live together during the summer of 1943 on a farm as part of the Farm Service Force, doing the work of the men who are off fighting the war in Europe. We follow the stories of Helene, who sends her wages home to support her single mother; Peggy, a flirt who spends her time writing to her soldier beaux; Binxie, whose rich family doesn't approve of her; Isabel, who pines over her fiance, who is off fighting; Jean, whose family farm has been taken over by the "farmerettes," as they became known; and the mysterious X, who of all the girls feels the most out of place. Friendship, romance, hardship and heartbreak shape their summer, all against the backdrop of the World War II.