Plot Synopsis

Jack Peterson, a widowed father of three young children, encounters Ginny Newsom, a wildlife biologist, whose mission is tracking trumpeter swans, a family of which has settled in a pond on his farm. The mother swan perishes, after laying several eggs. It's not clear if the baby swans will emerge from the eggs, and survive. That's when Jack's 10-year-old tomboy daughter, Frankie, gets involved. She's determined to rescue the eggs and then nurture the struggling cygnets. Jack is torn between encouraging her humanitarian impulse and putting a damper on the girl's life-saving instinct. What will happen if the eggs don't stay viable, or the motherless cygnets don't survive? Jack fears this possible loss of life would be devastating for her, especially since she's already lost her own mother. Adding to the sensitivity of the situation is the relationship between protective dad Jack and pushy, know-it-all Ginny. Initially it's dislike at first sight, but then fiercely independent Ginny finds herself becoming an integral part of the Peterson family.