After her fiancé, Daniel Beachy, died in a buggy accident, schoolteacher Ruth Yoder decided to move out of her parents' home and into the house he'd built for their married life together. Ruth has lived alone for the past eleven years.
When David Hershberger, a widower, starts spending time with her, Ruth is surprised. David's children are amazed, too, that their father is interested in their longtime neighbor. Ruth hopes that she and David will become more than friends. But since David lost his wife, Irene, the love of his life and mother of their children, David can't imagine anyone taking her place in his heart. His children and Ruth's sister also aren't so sure that the relationship should develop.
Although Ruth prays that she might finally become a wife, she will follow whatever path God has chosen for her.
After her mother's untimely death, a twenty-year-old Amish woman has a difficult decision to make: choose to break from the Plain community and her boyfriend and live in the English world permanently ... or join the Amish church.
Rachel Hershberger wants to get away from her Amish home in Fields Corner, Ohio. For a year she's been trying to fill her mother's shoes by taking care of her father and siblings. She quit her job at the bakery so she would have more time to clean and cook at home. Before her mother died, Rachel was positive she wanted to marry Samuel Weaver, but now she can't think about wedding plans. She blames her father for her mother's death. If they had installed a phone in their barn or a shanty, her mother might have received medical help in time to save her life. Her mother's death has made Rachel question if she should be baptized and join the church. She wonders if non-Amish women live longer and have less stress. Maybe her forty-four-year old mother would still be alive had she left the Amish lifestyle like her sister Carrie did.
When her Aunt Carrie invites her to go to the beach, Rachel decides the time away will help her to decide whether to join the Amish church or to live in the English world. She is conflicted because she loves Samuel and her family. Instead of a relaxing time away, disturbing events happen while Rachel's in Florida. A photographer snaps troublesome pictures of Rachel because of her famous senator uncle, and a handsome and charming college student falls in love with Rachel.
