In A Journey Through Childhood the author leaves behind Lydia Clark, a young widow, and her husband, George, who disappeared mysteriously. Their ten-year-old eldest son, Orrin, now becomes the centerpiece. He is indentured to Billy Blinn, a pioneer farmer on Willsborough Point whose family embraces him as one of their own children. In return for food, clothing and a home to live in he apprentices as a farmer until he reaches his majority at age twenty-one. The story portrays Orrin within the context of life on The Point, and the daily events that took place there, as well as the impact that events in the broader arena, including the War of 1812, had upon Orrin Clark and the Blinn family.