The characters portrayed in Julie are residents of Alderton, a steel town in Western Pennsylvania. Julie Paige Wallace is a teenage girl who arrives with her family in Alderton from Timmeton, Alabama. Her father, Kenneth Timothy Wallace, has decided to leave the ordained ministry in order to become the owner and editor of Alderton's local newspaper, the Sentinel. The Wallace family also includes Mrs. Louise Wallace and Julie's brother and sister, Tim and Ann-Marie. As editor, Kenneth Wallace is helped in his efforts to keep the struggling paper alive by Dean Fleming. Fleming, a retired working man is also a member of a secret Christian organization known as the Preparers. This group, which Wallace joins, is a society of men who work together on charitable projects without attracting publicity. In Aiderton, Kenneth Wallace encounters Thomas McKeever Sr., board chairman of Yoder Steel and head of the prestigious Hunting...