When a court order forces Major Burdles adopted son, Daniel, to attend school, the professional swindler enrolls him at Plumfield, an institution run by Little Women's Jo March and her hardworking husband Professor Bhaer. While Daniel struggles with academic structure, his teachers face the threat of foreclosure on their school--which leads them to the Major.

A psychology professor at Stanford, a manual day laborer, an entrepreneur in debt, a long-term student ... all of them had to grapple with questions of race, identity, and privilege raised by growing together. Their ability to laugh and to love across boundaries of social and racial division made this family possible. But their differences still drive them apart. Even today at the ranch, overcoming distance is the central struggle for this family....