Love comes softly

A young woman's dream to forge a new life for herself on the great American plains becomes a test of her pioneering spirit, her inner strength, and her undying faith and courage. By covered wagon, Marty and Aaron Claridge have come West in search of fortune and a new life. But an unexpected tragedy leaves Marty a widow facing bleak prospects for the future. With a bitter winter season approaching and no safe passage back home, she finds herself stranded yet befriended by settlers Ben and Sarah Graham, who encourage her to take up the recent-widower Clark Davis on his unusual offer to join him in a temporary marriage of convenience. Marty will have a roof over her head until the spring thaw when she can return home. In the meantime, Clark's nine-year-old daughter Missie will have a teacher and a mother figure. As promised, the arrangement is strictly business. However, teaching Missie, who's still mourning her mother, becomes as challenging as living with Clark, a young man cut off from his emotions. For three similar people, each grieving for a lost loved one, comfort comes from sharing their pain and hardships. But is it enough to make two lonely spirits recognize what they truly need and want? As the months and seasons pass, and Marty gets closer to the day of her departure, she finally discovers the meaning of courage, her inner faith, a love she never thought possible, and the bittersweet truth in her friend Sarah's sage advice: "Bloom where you're planted."