The story begins in Europe, with a brief history of the church out of which the Reformation grew. The scene then shifts to New Amsterdam in 1628, where a miniscule church survived the English conquest and eventually grew into the Reformed Church in America. By Grace Alone follows its story into the twenty-first century. In addition to the sequential story of the Reformed Church's development, there are vignettes of people involved in events small and great - from the diary of a frail young woman who survived near calamity at sea but ended her life at eighty-one, the widow of the president of Queen's College, to the boy from a farm in Iowa who built the Crystal Cathedral. The reader will also be helped by timelines in every chapter, as well as a glossary, an index, and many illuminating illustrations.