Jacquie Hoffman

After Della had been orphaned she came to live in the country with her uncle, Lord Lainden, who rented a delightful house on the estate of his great friend the Duke of Marchwood. She was blissfully happy with her uncle and rode the Duke's horses every day. But a cloud was gathering on the horizon in the form of Jason, the Duke's only son and heir. Jason had returned to his ancestral home having led a very dissolute life in Paris and his father was desperate for him to settle down, make a good marriage and continue the Ducal line.

Elvina Carrisford, has known little love and affection in her life. She is invited to be a companion to her cousin Delphine, who is to be engaged to the nephew of a French Prince. En route to her new home she meets an enigmatic and handsome stranger, who rescues her from a wild blizzard and takes her to a nearby cottage. Here she and Serge, the stranger, sit out the storm. He turns out to be the valet to an aristocratic traveller.

The rich farmlands of the Dakota Territory in 1887 are finally beginning to yield the abundant harvest the pioneers had dreamed about so long. The establishment of the railroad has brought significant changes to the small town of Blessing as well as prosperity to the Bjorklund family and their neighbors. Among the townsfolk is reverend John Solberg. The reverend, rejecting the persistent efforts of matchmaking mothers, develops a friendship with Mary Martha through their common love of books.