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Three novels in one volume by author Kim Vogel Sawyer, the Sommerfeld Trilogy is about a Kansas Mennonite community involving three women—Marie Koeppler, her daughter Beth Quinn, and Trina Muller—who each has a different outlook on life with three different personalities and personal goals. But the big question is, how do these work into the lifestyle of the Mennonite belief system?

The first book in the series, Bygones, is about the mother Marie who has left her Mennonite roots behind her while leaving with a trucker she met at the local café and marries. When he dies suddenly before her daughter Beth is born, she is left with no family nor friends. Returning home to Kansas, she is rejected by her Mennonite father and community for what she has done and returns to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to raise her daughter by herself—waiting tables at the local café.

A headstrong daughter of 20, Beth learns that her mother's favorite aunt has passed away, leaving her the  Kansas café and home that had belonged to her, from her mother's old Mennonite boyfriend who has traveled to Cheyenne to give her the news. To Beth, an outgoing and worldly daughter who is very outspoken and independent, this is not good news as she has to remain in the town for three months before she takes over ownership. Talking her mother into going with her, they prepare to leave only to stay long enough to fulfill the contract and sell the property. But life has many surprises that develop into the lives of both women, not only with Marie's family and her own Mennonite beliefs but also has her daughter taking a second look at her own life.

Surprises are in store for both women in all the books, with the first book about both women and their relationship with the town. The second book, Beginning, is about the daughter and her development of an art gallery with stained glass art which she has built when selling the café.  The house she keeps as she remains in the Mennonite community, but Beth takes a look at her self throughout the story as she discovers her talents, her relationship with a Mennonite man and an outsider, plus her own creativity which is involved with the business.

The third book in the trilogy is Blessings, the story of a young Mennonite girl whose mother now owns the café that Beth sold. The Mennonite beliefs do not allow women to work in the field of veterinarian services which is exactly what Trina wants to do. Loving animals her entire life, she has always been the one upon which everyone would bring their animals to when they became ill. A natural in the field as an animal lover, Trina has saved her money from working at the Mennonite Café hoping to go to school, which she realizes may cost her the community's approval.