Summary

The novel opens with a brief prologue in which the protagonist and narrator, Christina Olson, discusses “Christina’s World,” the famous painting that her friend Andrew Wyeth painted of Christina and her house. She says that many details of the painting are inaccurate, but that it still captures the beauty and essence of her life.

The narrative then begins in the year 1939 in a house in Cushing, Maine where Christina has resided for her entire life. She is middle-aged now. Betsy, a local 17-year-old girl comes to the house with Andrew Wyeth, a 22-year-old painter who is the son of famous painter N.C. Wyeth. Andrew makes Christina’s acquaintance and says that her house is fascinating. He asks if he can paint it, and Christina agrees. She tells Andrew that it was built by her ancestors, who came from Salem and were related...