Mary Kate Beachy is a recent widow. She's also Mervin's favorite niece. When he learns that Mary Kate is out of money and about to live back home with her parents, Mervin offers Mary Kate an alternative. She can live in the newly built she-shed on the farm.

Grateful to her Uncle Mervin, Mary Kate moves into the she-shed which is located near a little pond on the edge of the Miller's new property. The shed, with its tiny kitchen and couch that unfolds into a bed is cozy and cute. The Porta potty just outside is not. The cows that visit her each morning are rather annoying, too. However, all of these conditions do one thing that all the coddling and company in Sugarcreek had never been able to accomplish-heal her heart.

She starts a little garden, begins to journal, and even begins to think about her future . . . when she meets Joe Yoder. Joe is everything her studious, serious husband had never been and nothing she ever thought she wanted. He's heart-stopping gorgeous, strong as an ox, gregarious, and cracks jokes. He also seems determined to court her.

Suddenly, Mary Kate isn't worried so much about her past as the future that Joe wants her to have. Now she's got a very big problem. She needs to find a way to tell both her heart and Joe that she has no intention of being a frau again.

Unfortunately, nothing goes according to plan.