A single New England woman responds to an advertisement by a Midwestern widower in which he asks for a bride to help him raise his two children.
The story is set in Kansas in 1910. Jacob Witting, a widowed farmer who is still saddened by the death of his wife, Katherine, during childbirth around six years before, finds that the task of taking care of his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone. He advertises in the newspaper for a mail-order bride. Sarah Wheaton, from Maine, responds describing herself as "plain and tall", and travels out to become his wife. Upon arriving, she proves to have good sense, an interest in helping with even the most physically demanding chores, and a quiet, warm personality. But she grows Homesickness: miles and miles of Kansas farmland prove no substitute for Maine's ocean vistas. She is under no obligation to marry Jacob and is free to leave if she so desires; much of the story's suspense depends on whether or not she will decide to stay.
The Witting farm is in trouble from a severe drought. Jacob and Sarah begin to wonder what will happen to the family if they have to leave the farm.
On a cold winter day a mysterious stranger shows up at the Witting Farm. He is John Witting, the father of Jacob Witting who abandoned Jacob and his mother when Jacob was little. Jacob is very hurt by what his father did to him many years ago that he won't have anything to do with him to which his wife Sarah must do everything to bring Jacob and his father back together again for the sake of Jacob and his three children Anna, Caleb, and Cassie who love their grandfather very much.