When Sadie Alexander’s employer dies, she knows she’ll need to leave the household. Mrs. Ludlow’s son has already made improper advances, and now it would be hard to avoid him. Desperate, she sees an ad in a newspaper for a bride, so she mails a hastily written letter and travels to California on a wagon train. Being an orphan, she has no family to turn to. If the offer isn’t still open or the man looks unsuitable, she’ll try to find a job there. However, when she arrives, Mr. Laird is away with his construction business, and his older friend has been left to meet her.

Sawyer Laird couldn’t believe that he finally got a response from his advertisement for a bride after all this time, and it couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. He still has construction contracts he needs to fulfill in Placerville, a gold-mining town that is no place for a lady. Well, she would just have to wait a while. He sure hoped she’d be the understanding sort.

Getting off to a rocky start at their first meeting, they both begin to see the other’s point of view, agree to call a truce, and decide to start over. However, Sadie is still leery of this man who puts his business above his potential wife. She’s not sure she wants to live that kind of life.