It is spring of 1905 in the northern woods of Iowa. As night falls slowly outside a pretty little farmhouse, seven children take refuge on the porch. Inside, their mother, Mary, is dying. Her husband, Peter, and her spinster cousin, Jane, sit by Mary's deathbed, listening to her final request-for them to marry.
After Mary passes away, Jane stays with the family to care for Peter and the children, hoping in time she can honor her deathbed promise and become Peter's second wife. Although she and Peter dabble in a romance for Mary's sake, Jane is the only one who falls in love. She remains hopeful, but her dreams implode upon the arrival of the beautiful Becca Grady, who answers an advertisement for housekeeper and immediately captures Peter's heart. Peter falls in love with Becca and marries her, enchanted by a woman he knows nothing about.
In this historical tale of suspense, a vulnerable widower is about to discover how much power the wiles of a manipulative woman can hold over his life.