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Every now and then it is nice to take a back seat from the world, entering one which takes you away where life is good while winning over bad. Where the Heart Leads, by Kim Vogel Sawyer, is one of those books. Kim Sawyer lives on the plains of Kansas, and her story is also written in the same location in the early 1900s. A Christian work of fiction, this is not a book for just everyone but for those who have a belief system in God and enjoy reading about the Mennonite roots along with strong family values. 

A second book in a series, the politics and economy of this era are pretty similar to what is going on today. The only boy of the Ollenburger family, Thomas, is just finishing up his college education in Boston that has been the dream of his father and family. But once graduating, Thomas does not really want to go back to Kansas but wishes to remain in Boston—not only because of jobs but because of a woman he has fallen in love with.

He returns home for a short time out of respect for his father, only to find the family has unknowingly lost the homestead due to the economy. Forced to move into the small nearby town of Hillsboro, the family lives in a small house while the father works for someone else on a daily basis to support his three daughters and wife. Thomas chooses to not tell his father of his wishes so he will not disappoint him, but takes a small construction job that seems to pull him further and further away from Boston and the political campaign he has promised to help with before the presidential campaign.

A Mennonite family with strong faith values, the story carries the strength and love which allows them to pull together in times of hardship. With the father focusing his love and dreams on his only son, Thomas finds himself unable to tell his father of his dreams of returning to Boston until his father overhears him complaining to a neighbor of it one his job is done. Thomas's father allows his son to return to Boston and fulfill his dreams, as he does not want to prevent him from following his dream and education.

Once Thomas returns to Boston, he begins working for the woman of his dream's family newspaper and to help with his campaign promise. But shortly he finds out the woman nor her family has a faith in God, and the campaign of which he is working for promotes social hierarchy which believes only the rich white gentlemen should be the leaders of the country, with the poor white and races considered inferior. This prompts him to make many choices different than what he intended when returning to Boston.