Having lost her Georgia home, along with her brother and mother, to the war, Molly Stewart is left penniless with a broken father. She signs up with the Pelican Rapids Mail-Order Brides agency in Minnesota, and Mrs. Ella Milton matches her with local farmer, Luke Ferrell. An attraction develops between Molly and Luke after months of corresponding, and they decide to marry. Knowing her father will never agree to the match, Molly runs away to Pelican Rapids, taking her grand piano with her—the only thing saved when Sherman’s army burned her home.
Luke is smitten with the sweet, beautiful Molly, and will do anything to win her love, even building onto his small farmhouse to accommodate her piano. Molly admires her handsome fiancé, but rumors that he still loves another woman disturb her, and he wants to keep delaying their wedding day. And why is he reluctant to discuss his past?
But Molly realizes she hasn’t been totally honest either. When she reveals to Luke the reason her piano is so important to her, it opens wounds in Luke’s past that threaten their happiness.