Jacob Have I Loved - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

This story starts as a young girl named Sara Louise (Wheeze), struggles to find herself and to get away from the shadow of her sister, Caroline. She lives in an old house with a senile grandmother, a caring mother, and a fisherman father. Often, when the family talks about them as babies, Wheeze is described as sleeping in a basket while Caroline is the center of attention. Wheeze also has a skeptical friend named Call who never understands any of her jokes. He goes crabbing with Sara and earns money from crabbing, which she surrenders into a jar to fund Caroline's trips to the mainland for her voice lessons.

Call and Wheeze then meet the Captain, a man who is believed to have lived on the island, but had disappeared during a storm. Caroline and Call get married, much to Sara Louise's dismay. Caroline is in New York when Call drops in unexpectedly and proposes. Trudy Braxton, the Captain, Wheeze's grandmother, and Truitt Bradshaw die later on. Wheeze breaks down in front of her mother and her mother encourages her to leave the island. When Wheeze gets the chance to go away to college, she almost missed it.

After finishing college, she goes to work in a small town as a nurse. She eventually marries a widowed father. She realizes she forgot about the baby boy and asks about his where about. He is in the basket, sleeping. The twins remind her of her and Caroline. She tells the family to hold the baby boy, keep him warm, and love him. In her mind, she does not want the baby boy to end up like her, sleeping in a basket, alone and forgotten. She finally finds her joy, happiness, and herself in this small town.