Bob Stampfli

In a Mirror Darkly Bob Stampfli

Ray Lennox has just returned from the army. With his wife, Laura, his high school sweetheart, he hopes to begin a new life on the family's run-down, unproductive farm, called Oak Hill. Ray is determined to make the farm a success and thereby prove to friends, relatives, and the entire population of the nearby village the he has the skills to be a great farmer. Laura, a brilliant, beautiful woman, intended to enroll at the local university before marrying Ray; her family is extremely unhappy when she decides to become a farmer's wife instead. They had high hopes for her, but she is deeply in love and pays no attention to their advice. Everything goes well for a time; area farmers help Ray get started in his new venture. Then a blizzard strikes the hilltop farm, destroying so much of what Ray has created. Certainly, Ray will now forsake farming and take the lucrative trucking job offered to him by his in-laws; Laura pleads with him to do so. But Ray knows best; he will rebuild. He will attempt to restore the farm to its original splendor and get a good crop. However, Ray makes a crucial error in judgment, setting in motion forces that could cost him dearly.