When you were a child, did you ever wish you had a secret place where no one would find you? A place where you could run free and imagine cowboys, fairies, and leprechauns. A place where you could splash in a gently flowing creek, surrounded by acres of corn, soybeans, and pasture. Such was the idyllic realm of the Mass children, Ed, Tim and Jenny—the fourth generation to grow up on one special Iowa farm. Some of the stories in Fourth Generation are humorous and others are fraught with peril. Jenny, in particular, gets herself into many scrapes—almost drowning after breaking through thin ice, nearly being crushed by a steer at the county fair, and falling into a watering tank. As the children grow older, their lives are filled with romance—and disappointments—but the sand dune that had played such an important role in their parents’ lives is always there, patiently waiting to offer solace or romantic adventure. These are the continuing stories of the Maas family—rural Iowans with a fierce determination to carry on their farm’s legacy.