Ingeborg Bjorklund enjoys the friendship of the entire Blessing, North Dakota, community. And after several years of widowhood, she has reached a place of contentment with her life. Meanwhile, her stepson Thorliff is raising two children alone since his beloved Elizabeth died. But there is a new schoolteacher in town, Louisa Gutenburg, and Thorliff doesn't seem to be himself whenever she's around. How long before Thorliff realizes what everyone else can see? But not everything is comfortable for Ingeborg. One of her dearest friendships is changing - and she will have to decide if her settled, predictable life is worth more to her than a future she hardly dares to imagine.