When Sylvia Compson discovers evidence of her ancestors' involvement with the Underground Railroad, it raises the historical issue of the use of quilts as a method of signalling fugitive slaves.

Sylvia Bergstrom Compson and her fiance Andrew embark on a difficult journey to find her mother's missing heirloom quilts, all the while discovering secrets regarding her mother's life and untimely death.

Hannah Lapp, a seventeen-year-old who had been raised in a traditional Old Order Amish family, wants to break with tradition and marry outside the sheltered community, but on a quiet night before Hannah and Mennonite Paul Waddell can be married, tragedy strikes and Hannah faces losing her place in the community forever.

Master quilter Sylvia Compson investigates her ancestry and discovers unexpected connections to a runaway slave and quilter who traveled the Underground Railroad to Elm Creek Farm before she was captured and returned to Virginia.

When Hannah Lapp reluctantly returns to the Old Order Amish community that she grew up in in order to help her sister, she is torn between her new life and love in the outside world and life in the community with her first love.

In the aftermath of a difficult divorce, Bonnie heads to Maui to help her friend Claire launch a quilter's retreat, a getaway marked by beautiful sunsets, regional quilting activities, and her ex's plot to claim Elm Creek Quilts' resources.

While caring for her ailing grandmother Phoebe, Jenny, a stepmother who longs for a child with husband Matthew, struggles to forgive both of them after learning a secret that they kept from her in an old letter.

Meditating on the weddings she has attended in Elm Creek Manor throughout the years on the morning of her daughter's wedding day, Sarah McClure evaluates the symbolic features on a wedding quilt designed to display the signatures of beloved guests.

When Amish widow Emma Yoder offers quilting lessons, she acquires a diverse collection of six non-Amish students who form bonds with her and each other as they work through their problems and learn to create beautiful quilts.