In the aftermath of the Civil War so many people struggled to put their lives back together. Iris Sands travels from Virginia to Texas as a mail-order bride. When she arrives in Sweet Water she finds that the man who sent for her died. The Union Soldiers thought her to be a new saloon girl and thought to get to her first before she started working. Lex Willis and ex-Confederate Soldier was about to leave town when he saw Iris being tossed back and forth by the soldiers. He puts a stop to it and takes her to the Eastman Ranch. He swore never to marry but Iris makes him rethink his vow.

Dr. Connor Beauregard Van Gates the IV and Elsie Crenshaw use a successful matchmaker to bring them together by using questionnaires to sort out their likes and dislikes. However, a catastrophe occurs, and things get very mixed up. The couple has so many oppositions that Connor is caught rolling his eyes often. What has he done?

Shannon McMurphy travels to Asherville, Texas as a mail order bride expecting to marry a rancher. Instead, her intended is a saloonkeeper. Her refusal to marry enrages John Hardy and he slices her cheek with a knife so no other man would want her. She runs into the street and no one helps her until blond, blue-eyed Cinders rescues her.

Susan Farr loses her parents and her home in one swoop. She takes her horse and rides to Independence, Missouri, to join a wagon train and start a new life. Mike Todd, the wagon master, doesn’t allow single women to have their own wagons. It causes fights and distractions. Susan solves her problem by marrying Clancy Willis in name only. Unfortunately, Clancy’s true nature doesn’t take long to show, and Susan finds herself married to a drunkard.

Ed Talbot isn't husband material. He's an outlaw, was forced into his father's gang at the age of 13, and is wanted dead or alive in more than one territory. But now his father is dead, he hates the life, the blood, and his brother's rages. When a stagecoach robbery goes awry, Ed ends up with a satchel full of charming letters from an enticing young miss. Unfortunately for Miss Lizzie Cobb, her betrothed is now dead, and Ed Talbot sees a way out.

Nellie Wallace is a young widow with two children. In post-Civil War New York, the men are scarce and none want the burden of a wife with children. Her dead husband's family is wealthy, and cruel. Desperate to escape their influence, and eager for a home, a husband, and a stable life for her children, Nellie decides to make a new life in San Francisco as a mail-order bride.

As a young girl, Lillian Walsh lost both her parents and a younger sister. Now in her 20s, after enduring the death of her adoptive mother, Lillian must find her place in the world. Just as her adoptive father is leaving for an extended trip to his native Wales, a lawyer appears at the door to inform Lillian that she has inherited a small estate from her birth parents - and that the sister she had long believed dead is likely alive. 

It's 1864, and civil war is devastating the country. When a speaker at the church shows sisters Eliza and Maggie a copy of Matrimonial News and tells them of the opportunities for women as brides in the west, Eliza sees a glimmer of hope in a world of widows and spinsters. But she’s skeptical. Maggie is excited, and with their mother enthusiastic about a brighter future for her daughters, the sisters set off to the west to start a new life.

Widowed rancher Heath Wolfe worries he's making a big mistake by bringing Willow McAllister home to his ranch. A known troublemaker around town, she can't seem to keep a job or avoid skirmishes with the law, so the town marshal implores Heath to help. While Heath agrees to employ Willow, he certainly won't allow misbehavior, and he's even prepared to take the willful young lady over his knee for a sound spanking if warranted.

Born into slavery, Dahlia never knew her mother - or what happened to her. When Dahlia’s father, the owner of Vesterville plantation, takes her to work in his home as a servant, she’s desperately lonely. Forced to leave behind her best friend, Bo, she lives in a world between black and white, belonging to neither. Ten years later, Dahlia meets Timothy Ross, an Englishman in need of a wife. Reinventing herself as Lily Dove, Dahlia allows Timothy to believe she’s white, with no family to speak of, and agrees to marry him. 

Dax Pelletier is ready to start a new life, far away from the one he left behind in Savannah following the South’s devastating defeat in the Civil War. The ex-Confederate general wants nothing more to do with commanding men and confronting the tough truths of leadership. Rachel Davenport possesses skills unlike those of her Boston socialite peers. Eschewing her northeastern suitors and forever changed by the violence and death she’s seen, Rachel decides to accept her uncle’s invitation to assist him at his clinic in the wild frontier of Montana. 

The residents of Thunder Lake all believe Thomas Taylor is guilty of killing his second wife. They've called him an unfit father, and he fears that his six young sons will be taken away from him before he can clear his name. He prays for an angel to guide him but ends up with a snoopy yet sexy social worker on his doorstep, instead. She pretends she is vacationing up the road at the Ainsley's Bed and Breakfast, but he knows she's lying. She has the power to take his children away, and he will do anything to keep that from happening.

Esther Zook is starting over after her father's death, piecing together a new life with as much care as she puts into her intricate quilts. When her wayward sister abandons her baby, it throws all those plans for a fresh start asunder. Esther had accepted her status as an old maid - but a mother? And a single one, at that? Not that she hasn't noticed Levi Kiem, the eligible young man who's making repairs in her house. Yet he surely has no interest in Esther as anything other than a friend....

Jessica Pratt is only 10 when her world is destroyed. After witnessing unspeakable acts of violence, she flees for her life, becoming lost in the untamed California wilderness. Terrified and alone, she fights for survival as each step takes her further away from everything she has ever known. For nearly a decade Jessica calls the mountain home until tragedy strikes once again. Forced to reenter a world that is controlled by men, Jessica transforms into Jesse for her own protection. 

It’s the summer of 1907, and the sun is scorching down on Mary Pearl in the Arizona Territory. Mary Pearl and her sister Esther take their minds off the heat by sneaking banned Jane Austen novels from Aunt Sarah Elliot’s lively bookshelf. Whispered read-alouds preoccupy their nights, and reveries of getting hitched to their own Mr. Darcy à la Pride and Prejudice swirl through their daydreams. In walks old-fashioned old-money suitor Aubrey Hanna, here to whisk 17-year-old Mary Pearl off her feet with a forbidden kiss and hasty engagement.