A Confederate widow vows never to be dependent on a man, a Yankee cavalryman believes that women cannot be trusted. Georgiana Harrington finds herself widowed before reaches twenty. Her husband, Billy, was killed early on by Yankee guns in Missouri, leaving her with a small ranch burdened with debt. Scratching and clawing, she survived the war. Now, she faces the possibility of losing it all.

Despite her good looks and reputation as a hard worker, Georgie is hesitant to remarry.

People on the frontier know that a woman alone can’t provide for herself, but she refuses to be dependent on a man again. Most of the eligible men in town have made advances, but she has turned them down flat. Her behavior has left the townspeople mystified, as they don’t believe she would forsake marriage forever. Even the richest man in town, whose bank holds the delinquent mortgage on her ranch, has proposed to her repeatedly, only to be turned down.

Georgie is determined to rely on the town businesses that got her through the war to continue to provide for her. However, her resolve is tested when a Yankee drifter on a big cavalry horse enters her life. Despite her hatred for the Yankees, there’s something about this man that awakened feelings that she has long suppressed. She finds herself reconsidering what she needs and wants.

The drifter, closed off emotionally, believes all women are faithless. He longs for a home, but the hellish things he’s seen and done sow doubts that he will ever find such a place.