Told by a Grandmother to her granddaughter, this Catholic story of a winter misfortune and good fortune in the English countryside has a moral and a quietude as it expresses a miracle through faith. The Grandmother, Rose, tells of herself as the oldest of three children who live with their grandmother in turn. When snows isolate them for a time, Rose gets sick and Martina, the youngest, learns to bear responsibility. Then Johnnie, who later becomes a priest, meets a wolf provling about, and the wolf, like the great gray dog of St. John Bosco, Johnnie's namesake, carries a message to a doctor.