When Mandy Chambers loses her job at the factory, she has no option but to become a mail-order bride. Forced to leave their home in West Virginia, she and her younger sister, Crystal, head across the country to a rancher named Ernest Flinn in Pepper Gulch, Utah. 

But things are a more complicated than the girls originally thought. Not only is Ernest Flinn the father to a seven-year-old girl named Lina, but the child is mute from the sickness that nearly took her life and did take the life of her mother. Mandy isn’t sure she’s ready to take on the task of being Lina’s mother - but Crystal bonds with the girl immediately. 

Life as a mail-order bride isn’t simple, but life as the sister to a mail-order bride can be even more complex - especially when Crystal’s prospective brother-in-law is a kind, handsome man who hits it off with her far more than with his bride-to-be. Between attachment to Lina and a growing love for the child’s father, Crystal finds herself in an untenable position. Must she leave and let her sister try to find happiness with Ernest Flinn? Or can she stay and hope things will change course and bring her the love of her life? Yet how can that happen while remaining loyal to her sister? And how does Mandy feel about it all?