When Stella was a child, her father told her life was about making bargains and sticking to them-but not every bargain is kept. Promises made on the front seat of a pickup truck were soon broken. At seventeen, Stella is an unwed mother struggling to care for a Down Syndrome son. Her father has deserted the family, her mother is sinking into depression, and a rundown Kentucky farm is her only chance of survival. Hope arrives in the form of Sawyer Warren, driving a dusty black Hudson. He offers her a deal and Stella's prospects seem to be looking up-until Sawyer gets in the way of a bullet. Stella finds herself, knees to the floor, in a hospital room, making a pledge in return for his life. She marries Sawyer and has a second child, but his careless past soon overwhelms them. Struggling to keep the family together, Stella takes a job at the local sheriff's office. Under the sway of a charismatic deputy, and thrust into the thick of a murder-suicide investigation, Stella hits a crossroad. As she struggles to regain her equilibrium, her strong-willed daughter, Sky, makes an urgent demand. Now Stella must decide if she can make one more bargain-and keep it.