Clara is used to the stares and cruel remarks from those who pity her and don't believe she can be a hard worker. Believing she is a hindrance to her family, Clara heads west to meet the farmer who has proposed to her. But he's shocked to see her limp. As Clara fears he will send her back home, she begs the mercantile store owner, Jed, for a job, who turns her down upon noticing her limp.

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.

As she travels to Arizona, Bella hopes for a better life. The rancher she is to marry needs someone to care for his three children. Bella knows this will only be a marriage of convenience and is grateful for a new start. Shane's ranch is what has kept him going since his wife passed four years ago. He tends to his children as best he can, vowing never to marry again. When Bella arrives, Shane's life unravels and is turned upside down. Not wanting her there, Shane plans to send her back home. But Bella has no home to go back to.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Emily knows she needs to get away from her father. A loveless marriage is an escape, and she prays that she will find the love she has always longed for. Doctor Todd Mayne lost his wife in tragic circumstances and wants only a mother for his children. Love has no place in his heart. When he sees Emily, he decides that he does not want to marry her. Todd says he needs time, but a heartbroken Emily is desperate for a stable home. Will Todd open his heart to Emily? Or, will Emily be forced to go back to a father who has never loved her?

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.

Mary leaves Chicago to escape an arranged marriage to a cruel man whose previous two wives had died under mysterious circumstances. Fearing for her own life, she travels to Colorado to become the bride of Mason, the mercantile store owner.

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.

Hayley Roxbury must escape her abusive and alcoholic husband, Roger. Born to wealth and privilege in Pennsylvania, she plans to go live with her grandmother in the remote and wild Wyoming territory. With the help of good friends, she flees her home and husband. Matt Westman, a rancher in Miles Gulch, Wyoming, is tasked with picking up Mrs. Parkland’s granddaughter at the train station. To his delight, she is poised, graceful, and impossibly beautiful. 

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.