Born to a single mother, orphaned, and raised by a bootlegging grandfather, Betty Jo is catapulted on a quest to discover her daddy's identity. As she grapples with questions of who her kinfolk and kind are, and her place in the broader society, revelations of the past point her to an understanding her own self. As Betty Jo enters womanhood, the circle of fellowship broadens. She must learn to identify the "vines" that hold precious things together from those that seek to choke and destroy. "The Fall and the Lift of Love" is wrapped in the cultural context of 1930s East Texas.