Sadie travels to Montana to meet the man she is to marry, wanting to escape a lonely and destitute life in New York. Mack assures Sadie he will provide a good life for her—a life that is all lies. Sadie is shocked to hear horrible news when she arrives in Montana, and her world comes crashing down. Rancher Brett has put down roots and hopes to find a wife that will give him heirs to his ranch. Love has no place in his heart; to Brett, marriage is only a business arrangement. A desperate Sadie seems the perfect choice for Brett, who harbors a secret he doesn't wish to share.

Widow Lucy, her young son, and unborn child are forced from their home due to unpaid debts. Needing a fresh start quickly, she begins corresponding with a doctor in Colorado. Jed is seeking someone to tend to his home and proposes to Lucy, excited to have an instant family. But as Lucy travels to Colorado, fear and doubt overtake her. While Jed seemed like a nice and kind man through his letters, she fears that he may not be that way in person.

Nora fears she will never have the family she longs for due to the scar she carries from a childhood accident. Known as the plain Kelly sister, she longs to run away to where no one knows her and have a fresh start. Utah rancher Clay needs someone to tend house and cook for him and the ranch hands. Love has no place in his life, and he proposes to a young woman he has been corresponding with, making it clear the marriage is in name only.

As Christmas nears, Louisa travels to South Dakota to meet the man she will marry: widowed rancher Matthew. With no family of her own, she looks forward to becoming a wife and mother to Matthew's two young daughters. But Louisa's journey does not go as planned. While the girls are happy to see her and are happy their Christmas wish to have a mother comes true, Matthew doesn't want anything to do with her. Forced with facing lies and deceit, Louisa's happy Christmas suddenly turns dire.

After finding out her marriage was a sham, Millicent must leave Philadelphia and the shame and gossip that surround her. She corresponds with a banker and after accepting his marriage proposal, travels to Montana. But what awaits her turns her world upside-down. Widower Clark lost his wife and son years ago and has not gotten over the heartbreak. As Millicent meets the widower next door, Clark makes a startling discovery, and will do what he has to to make Millicent his Christmas wife - although it may be too late.

Widow Emma accepts a Wyoming rancher's proposal to escape a precarious situation in Boston. While she must get away quickly, she hopes that she has made the right decision. But Wyoming will turn her life upside down, and her heart will never be the same. Widower rancher Ross still mourns for his late wife. When his children tell him all they want for Christmas is a mother, his heart breaks, for he knows he can never provide that. Ross does not believe he will ever be ready to marry again. As Christmas approaches, Ross' life is turned on end. 

Cora's life shatters, and she desperately needs to get away from Chicago, where ridicule and shame follow her. When her sister encourages her to go west to Colorado and meet a man she had been corresponding with, Cora agrees. Widower Hugh awaits Amy's arrival, after proposing a marriage of convenience to her, as he knows his infant daughter needs a mother. But when Amy is nowhere to be seen, he is faced with a shocking revelation, and a switched bride.

Adelle longs to escape a hard life in Philadelphia, dreaming of an easier life with a family of her own. Floyd seems like a kind-hearted man, and she eagerly accepts his proposal a few weeks before Christmas. But once she steps on the train to head west, Adelle's life begins to unravel, and she realizes too late that she has made a terrible mistake. With no money to return to Philadelphia, she's at the mercy of strangers in a new town; strangers who are only too willing to take advantage of her.

When Cara is left widowed and in debt, she must make a hasty decision before she is left destitute and homeless. When she begins corresponding with Moss, a mercantile owner in Texas, he soon proposes, and Cara believes her prayers have been answered. On the stagecoach to Texas, she befriends a young man who's traveling to the same town as her. Jordan is an outcast due to the unsightly scar on his face, but as Cara gets to know Jordan, she realizes others have judged him unjustly.

Abby is desperate to get away from her stepfather when she loses her mother, terrified of what he will do to her. A marriage of convenience to rancher Samuel in Oregon is her only way out of a dire situation. Samuel is raising his friends' daughters and needs a wife to help him care for them.

Tinsmith Jonah has always longed for a wife and family, but his hopes died in war. He knows no woman wants a crippled man. He has taken in two young orphans and is raising them on his own. Anne has lived a hard life since her parents died, being taken in by her aunt and uncle who treat her like an unpaid servant. When she sees the ad from Jonah, she sees light in her life again and is happy to accept his proposal. But the children want nothing to do with Anne.

Jael Wheeler’s life in Philadelphia turns upside down with the tragic loss of her father, who leaves her penniless. To survive, Jael becomes a Mail Order Bride. Upon finding a man willing to marry her, Jael heads for Montana, only to discover her fiancé has fled, chasing another woman to Denver. Now, a mysterious cowboy haunts Jael, following her and watching her every move. Women are going missing, and rumor has it, they’re being sold to miners. 

When tragedy befalls Abby and her sister Belle, they are forced to leave Boston in order to survive. Belle travels to Colorado while Abby travels to Arizona to marry widower Clark, the town’s sheriff.

Emma desperately needs to escape her employer’s son who has illicit intentions for her. But with no family, she fears what will happen to her on the streets of Philadelphia. But the employer’s kind daughter has a plan to get Emma away from her brother, even though it involves a big deception.

Amber is alone in New York and struggling to get by when she's forced to vacate her home. With nowhere to go and desperation setting in, she decides to accept a marriage proposal from Jack, a rancher in Montana.