Hope Knocking tells the story of 2020 from three different perspectives: Amantha, an opinionated retired educator who considers herself to be half hillbilly and half flatlander; Matthew, her soft-spoken mountain husband; and Nancy Mae, Amantha's charismatic elderly mother who has returned to her East Tennessee roots after leaving nearly seventy years ago. The three live in Mavie, a mere speck on a USGS topographical map, on the banks of the Diamond River.