In 1850, Temperance Peabody, age 32, is a plain yet beautiful
woman who has yet to know the thrill of romantic love. Raised in
the Oregon territory where her parents established a strict
religious colony, she was never allowed to have a suitor but now
longs to have a family of her own.
After her parents die and a cholera epidemic wracks the colony,
Temperance feels called by God to take the surviving orphaned
children back East to their extended families. But the only man
available to accompany her on the dangerous journey is Thaddeus
Brennan, a hard-edged drifter with good reasons of his own to get
out of town.
Despite the mismatch of Temperance’s purity with Thad’s hot temper,
heavy drinking, and distaste for kids, the intensities of their
trek help the two find common ground, perhaps enough on which to
build a lasting relationship. But life and love are unpredictable.
And when another man and woman join the journey, and a shock awaits
two of the orphans, this hearty story of faith and new desires duly
follows.