SYNOPSIS

Marty Claridge (Katherine Heigl) is beautiful, headstrong and determined. That's why her husband, Aaron Claridge (Oliver MacReady), loves her so darn much. But he has to struggle to keep these qualities in mind on this particular day, as Marty storms up a grassy hill. The Claridges have traded in their east coast lives to go in search of a new beginning as pioneers in the Midwest. It's been a difficult journey, one in which they lost all of their money and butted heads over what to leave behind when their load was too heavy to carry — 200 pounds of rice and beans or 200 pounds of books. Marty foolishly opted to keep the books and Aaron unhappily acquiesced. Now they are broke, nearly out of food and again at odds as to where the piece of land is that will become their new home. As Marty charges up the hill, Aaron finally has no choice but to follow her and, as they crest the hill, they come upon it, an idyllic little glen with a sparkling river running through it. They've arrived!

It seems too good to be true. Aaron rashly whips the horses in gleeful joy, thus causing the wagon to careen madly down the hill and end up at the bottom with a broken wheel. But even that bit of misadventure is not enough to dim their enthusiasm. They may have no money and are eating pancakes for the 100th time, but they've made it. They clearly have little idea of the hardships that face pioneers.

All of this happiness will soon come crashing around Marty's feet when Aaron leaves the next morning to go in search of one of the horses which had wandered away. When a nearby neighbor, Ben Graham (Corbin Bernsen), comes riding up with a second horse carrying a body, the scope of Marty's tragedy becomes clear. Aaron was thrown from his horse while trying to catch the other, and now he's dead. Marty refuses to accept it — all she is able to do is escape to her wagon and hide.

And that's where she stays, until Ben and his wife, Sarah (Theresa Russell), and others from town show up, intent on burying Aaron. Marty is deep in shock and doesn't respond at first. But Sarah convinces her that she must bury her husband. One of the mourners is Clark Davis (Dale Midkiff), himself a widower, who looks at Marty's devastating grief with compassion and understanding.

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For Marty, it's like she's living a nightmare from which she can't awake. As if to give voice to her sadness, the skies suddenly turn black and a torrential rainstorm hits. As the mourners quickly take to their various carriages, Marty is left kneeling at Aaron's grave, getting soaked to the bone. Clark decides he can't leave her like this. He goes back with an unlikely proposition.

Clark is a wise and practical man. With winter coming, he knows that Marty is going to need a roof over her head. He has a house that he shares with his daughter, Missie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). He knows that his daughter needs a woman's guidance. His proposition is to marry Marty. It will be a solution, if only temporary, to get them through the next several months. And then, when winter is over, Clark will help Marty go back east to her family. Marty responds positively to the last part, the thought of going home. So before she knows it, she and Clark are married.

When it comes time for Marty to move into Clark's house, she is met by an unhappy nine-year-old who does not like the idea of a strange woman coming to live with them. And she sees Missie's spirit when she bloody’s a neighbor boy's nose. But it makes little difference to Marty, who has sunk so deep into despair that all she wants to do is sleep. Clark is willing to let Marty take the time she needs to grieve, but Sarah Graham, a practical woman, tells Marty there's no place in this part of the country for "wants," only for "needs."

It becomes evident to all that Marty lacks the makings of a pioneer woman. With a trunk full of pretty dresses and boxes full of books, she is every inch a city girl. Missie thinks it's a waste to own more than one dress, since life on their farm doesn't call for dressing up. Still she can't help but eye a beautiful pink taffeta dress of Marty’s.

Depressed as she is, Marty decides that she must make the best of this situation. Clark, who has given up his bed to her and is now sleeping outside in a lean-to, tells her that he'd appreciate it if she could help Missie with her chores and with her schooling. He admits that because life is so hard on the farm, Missie spends her days working instead of going to school. Marty takes this to heart and decides she will help teach Missie. But as she spends more time with the child, she comes to realize that Missie sorely resents her presence and isn't above a nasty trick or two to let her know it.

Marty is trying to learn how to do chores around the farm, but it doesn't come easily. One day, when Clark has to leave for the day, Marty has a hard time finding Missie. When she does spot the child up in the loft of the barn, she's pretty angry. Missie tells her to get out of the barn because there's a skunk inside. The skunk is frightened and ends up spraying Marty. Later Missie gets the last laugh when she is squashing tomatoes into Marty's skin and hair.

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Marty decides to fight fire with fire. When Clark and Missie leave to go to town one day, and Missie makes a sarcastic comment about how, if she were to stay home, she'd have fried chicken waiting on the table for her dad, Marty takes the message to heart. She decides she can kill a chicken and proceeds to nearly de-beak the rooster instead. But, by day's end, she's managed to kill the chicken, pluck it and fry it, much to the amazement of both Clark and Missie.

Things start to go better for both Marty and Missie. The child is learning how to spell and she's beginning to teach Marty practical things, like milking a cow. When Clark tells them that Ben and Sarah Graham are holding their annual party, Marty agrees to attend with Clark and Missie. She sees Missie taking out the pink dress she had admired, pretending it belonged to her dead mama, and it's then that Marty realizes that she's not the only one in this house who is grieving — that the child is suffering from her mother’s death. Unbeknownst to either Clark or Missie, Marty cuts down the pink taffeta dress so that it fits Missie. It opens a new chapter in Marty and Missie's relationship.

They attend the gathering, with Missie in the pink dress, but Marty is still having a difficult time in front of strangers. It's during their drive home that Clark tells her he knows she's expecting a child; he could tell by the way she held her stomach. She tells him Aaron's child is due soon. Instead of being hurt or angry, he tells her that he's glad she'll have a child by which to remember Aaron.

Marty, for her part, is becoming more curious about Clark. Apart from his gentle ways with raising his daughter, she knows little about him. She decides to follow him on one of his Sunday walks and finds him sitting on a bench on a hillside — his own version of church — singing hymns off key. The image of this loving and faithful man softens her attitude toward him. But just as she's about to go back toward the cabin, she spots the black horse that Aaron had been chasing before he died. She's determined she's going to get the horse.

A snowstorm is brewing on the plains and during her attempts to catch the horse, it hits. When Clark gets back to the house and realizes that Marty is gone, he goes in search of her, telling Missie to regularly fire his gun in the air so he can find his way back to the house in the blinding snow. Somehow he manages to find Marty, hunkered down beneath the black horse, and is able to lead her back to the house. That night he sits watching over her as she sleeps, worrying about her.

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Christmas is fast approaching and Clark, Missie and Marty are caught up in the excitement of it. They go out and cut down a huge Christmas tree, decorate it and the house. Marty admits that both of her parents are deceased and that she doesn't have much in the way of family left back east. On Christmas morning, they all exchange gifts that they've made for each other: Missie gets a dollhouse her father made and a pink sweater from Marty; Clark gets a scarf his daughter knitted with Marty's help and a book cover Marty made for his bible; Marty receives a cradle that Clark built for the baby.

When Marty goes into labor, Clark tries to bring Sarah to the house to act as midwife, but Sarah can't come and she convinces him that he can deliver the baby. He's mighty reluctant to do so, but he manages to bring little Aaron Luke into the world. The birth brings everyone closer together. Sarah, who comes by later on, tells Marty that she was widowed with two children when she met Ben, and that she married him out of need rather than love. But that the need has since grown into love.

A fire in the barn one night brings all of the neighbors in to help, and Marty tries to pitch in as best she can, given the constraints of caring for a young baby. But, in the end, her wagon, her books and most of her belongings are lost, as is the barn and some other buildings. Marty, though, is having a change of heart. When she realizes what Clark has given up for her, she realizes what a good man he is. When he's back at the house, exhausted from the ordeal, she finally tells him that she doesn't want to leave, but her words have fallen on deaf ears. He's fallen into an exhausted sleep.

Clark feels that Marty will never truly be able to get on with her life until she starts believing in the power of the Lord again. For her part, she's pretty angry with a God who robbed her of her husband and left her a widow with a baby. Yet Clark's faith is inspiring. She writes a note telling Clark to ask her to stay and puts it in his Bible near his bed. But, as fate would have it, the note falls out and under the bed where he never sees it. When he doesn't respond, Marty assumes that he doesn't want her to stay.

Marty makes preparations to leave, and despite Clark's feelings for her, he feels he must live up to his end of the bargain. So Marty and little Aaron are packed up and put on a wagon train headed east. Missie is upset and she can't understand why Marty would leave. Clark takes Missie home and begins to move his belongings out of the lean-to. It's then that he bows to ask for understanding as to why Marty was brought into and out of his life so quickly. He discovers the note on the floor. When he reads it, he can't believe what a fool he's been. He jumps on his horse and races after the wagon train.

Marty is sitting disconsolately in the wagon, holding little Aaron, when, to her astonishment, she sees Clark chasing after her. When a man loses his woman, he goes after her, says Clark. They are simple but true words and ones that Marty has been waiting to hear. He sweeps her into his arms and, for the very first time, they kiss.

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