After completing a journalism degree at the University of Kansas and serving three years in the Air Force, Andrew "Andy" Jones tests his long-time interest in community journalism rather than join "The Kansas City Star," a daily newspaper where his father is an editor. The 24-year-old accepts a job as the editor of a weekly newspaper in Appleton, Oregon, a town of 8,000 people in the Willamette Valley during the early 1950s when journalists wrote stories on typewriters and newspapers were printed on letterpresses. A one-year trial run coincides with his long-time girlfriend's plan to complete her law degree at Harvard and to join her father's law firm in Kansas City. Jane Johnston, a teasing redhead, complicates his decision-making as they work together at "The Appleton News." Andy also must deal with the advances of Mary Martin, a wealthy grass seed farmer, who lost her husband in a farm accident and appears to be looking for a replacement. As the one-year trial period ends, several incidents help Andy decide whether to remain in Appleton or to return to Kansas City and to re-establish the personal relationship with his life-long girlfriend.