Nellie Williams is tired of the mundane, everyday sort of life she leads in Middleburg, Virginia. She longs for adventure, excitement, and true love—but she stands little chance of finding any of it if she stays put at home. When her cousin tells her about matrimonial agencies, her imagination takes flight at once. She can just see it now—being matched with a handsome cowboy in the Wild West, raising children, fighting off outlaws. But as she starts her journey toward the future, the fulfillment of her dreams is far more than she bargained for.

When his young wife dies unexpectedly, Jed McBride has a tough time looking after his young daughter Josie. He decides to send for a mail order bride, hoping to find someone to help take care of his little girl. Across the country, Estelle Morrow is desperate to get away from the Slate Gang and their ruthless leader Amos. As a young girl, she joined her brother as a member of the gang, but now, she wants nothing more than to escape the life of crime.

Angie Rosewood makes a big mistake: She falls in love with her employer’s son, Marcus Donahue. By some miracle, he falls for her, too. If they are caught speaking to each other, she will be fired. Marcus swears he’ll take care of things, but he doesn’t get the chance. After Marcus leaves on a business trip, Angie is summoned to the housekeeper’s office. The head housekeeper takes joy in telling Angie she’s been seen kissing Marcus, and her employment is terminated. When she reads an advert for mail-order brides, it seems the only answer to her prayers.

Her husband is dead. She's pregnant. And her odious brother-in-law is forcing her hand in marriage. Betty Rochester can't abide the thought of Garrett having anything to do with her child. Or her. She has to escape and fast. Her only hope is to get as far away from Boston—and Garrett—as she can. But Betty has run out of options. Except one. Her sister became a mail-order bride, so why can't she? But Betty doesn't count on her mail-order husband rejecting her when he discovers she's with child. Now she's thousands of miles from home with a man who can barely look her in the face.

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.