Where the Wild Geese Go, set during the American Civil War, follows Sarah Harper and Jacob Clark, neighbors whose lives become intertwined amid the turmoil of the war. After the Confederates take Sarah's father on the day her mother gives birth, she's left to care for her baby sister Rose and Josie, a freed slave woman, and her infant Lilly. As Sarah grows up, she and Jacob marry to prevent a distant cousin from claiming her farm, and despite initially considering their marriage a formality, Sarah and Jacob fall in love. Rose and Lilly become as close as sisters. Although Lilly and Josie are colored, Sarah loves them like family. Also, Sarah and Jacob take two orphaned boys into their home, caring for them as if they were their own. Sarah and Jacob work hard to survive the difficult times and to help neighbors and friends. After the war ended, they and their neighbors built a Community School and Church.