This story is really a social study that offers an inside look into the outward lives and internal mind sets of interacting friends, families, and neighbors living in a small town in Frederick, Maryland during the early twentieth century. As the title eludes, not all is as docile as it may first appear, and emotional highs and lows plague each character in uniquely personified ways. Sensible, well-grounded characters, who appear to have orderly lives and often serve as the voice of reason, will reveal deep, dark secrets from the past. By the same token, those characters first portrayed in a negative light will show surprising strengths and redemptions in who they truly are.