Copper is overjoyed that her friends Willow and Audrey found love and fulfillment after the war. The only remaining spinster, Copper vows to pour herself into her new teaching job. But tragedy strikes during her very first week. The schoolhouse catches fire and Copper suffers a serious injury while ushering her students to safety. Suddenly she's on a wagon train bound for Colorado to see the only doctor who can help her walk again.

Ever since the wagon train pulled into town, Copper butted heads with wagon master Josh Redlin—and now she must depend on him for her very life. But as Copper is forced to count on others for life's basic needs, she starts to surrender...and let her guard down around the one man whom she's despised for so long. Could it be that the very person that drives her crazy is the one she truly needs?