It is 1892, and Savannah Baker and her four-year-old son, Little John, live in a cabin deep in the woods of Hart County, Kentucky. Left a widow when her husband was killed while shewas carrying their baby, she is finally coming out of her grief and has decided to move into town.When a friend develops a tumor, Savannah goes to the next county in search of a woman healernamed Nell. Nell, and then her son Adam Stone, move to Hart County and soon Savannah hassecretly lost her heart to him. Her childhood friend, Aaron Snow, has returned home from theseminary to build a church. Savannah and Aaron become betrothed and she struggles with thereality of what life as a minister's wife might hold. Her head keeps telling her what the right pathis, but her heart has a direction of its own."