Clark and Anna Richards are getting settled in as newlyweds and making good progress on the Inn at Shining Waters. Clark is completing several new cabins and Anna is ready for her first season as proprietor or this rustic inn on the Siuslaw River. A phone call from her daughter, Lauren, changes the peacefulness of their lives.

Lauren is pregnant by an older college boy that she began dating the preceding summer. Her first reaction is to have an abortion. Anna does not want her to do this and tries to give her several options: staying on the river until the baby is born, putting the baby up for adoption, or letting Anna and Clark raise the child. Lauren's mental and emotional states are not stable. Anna wants to let her daughter make the decision herself, but Lauren's grandmother, Anna's ex-mother-in-law, insists Lauren marry Donald, the baby's father. Grandma Eunice gets Donald's mother, Adelle, to agree on this and together they formulate a plan for getting them married, getting Donald a job at Eunice's mill and setting them up to live with Eunice. The plan, and the promises that come with it, are more enticing to Lauren than marrying for love.

When Sarah Pearl is born, Lauren doesn't want to be a mother. She only wants her college life and friends back. Anna takes her home and tries to teach her how to be a good mother and a good housekeeper and wife to Donald. Lauren doesn't follow through when she returns to Pine Ridge and the marriage starts to fall apart. Eunice comes to the rescue again and hires both a housekeeper and a nanny so that Lauren won't be so stressed and can spend her days as she likes.

Anna sees very little of her granddaughter over the first five years of her life. But when Lauren needs some place to send Sarah for the summer so she can go to Europe with Eunice, she turns to her mother. Anna is delighted to keep Sarah, and they form a very special bond that lasts for many years. Through those years Lauren becomes dependent on prescription drugs and alcohol to cope with life. And Sarah is beginning to follow in the steps of her mother with the charmed life she has lived and lack of motherly supervision. As Lauren comes back to the river to heal, will history repeat itself, or will Sarah make some better choices?

Set in the late 1950s, 60s and early 70s, RIVER'S CALL picks up where the first book in the series, River's Song ended. It's an enchanting story about letting go of those you love the most and praying that they will make their way back. As Anna's Siuslaw Indian grandmother always said, "You have to paddle your own canoe." This inspirational series about healing your mind and spirit promises a third and final book that will end Anna's story. You won't be disappointed in any of them.