Another deep dream of peace, in the doings of that Cotswold English village of Thrush Green, endearingly chronicled as civil neighbors enjoy little pleasures and major satisfactions. Retired gentleman Harold Shoosmith, who once in Africa had admired the mission school founded in 1892 by Nathaniel Patten, a Thrush Green native, and had caused a statue in his honor to be erected in Thrush Green, is thrilled when Vicar Charles Henstock receives word that a packet of letters from Patten has been found.
A dinner party is planned for the man who found the letters and for a young woman who is a direct descendent of Patten's. There are plans for a joint celebration of both Patten's contributions and Thrush Green's own schoolhouse centenary. Along the way, there are also vibrations from former teachers Dorothy and Agnes, and contributions for the mission present-day are meager until.... Meanwhile: Winnie Bailey has an operation; Dotty Harmer is writing a book about her fierce schoolmaster father; and there's the usual hubbub at Christmas.
England