After catching the seasonal cold, young Annabel is told to stay with her grandfather out in the countryside of early 1930s America. Despite Annabel's initial boredom, she asks to attend the local public school for the remainder of her stay. Annabel befriends a young boy, Eli, who claims he can see a mythical 'Tree of Gold' through a crack in the wall of the local town church. It hence becomes Annabel's primary ambition to see that tree.