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 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.

As Christmas approaches, Ella's pregnant, alone and scared. Tragedy strikes her life, tearing apart all that she knows and loves in Chicago. She travels to Texas to marry a man she has been corresponding with. As she prepares for her new life, the tragedy haunts her.... 

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.

Hanna is jilted at the altar by a man she thought loved her. She leaves Philadelphia to escape the disgrace and humiliation that fill her soul. Ashamed and alone, she heads west to meet Frank, hiding a secret she plans not to reveal. Texas Ranger, Frank, longs to settle down but his job keeps him away from home. Although he yearns for a family, he wants someone to take care of his house. Hanna seems the perfect choice. He refuses to give his heart away and plans to keep his distance from his new wife.

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.

When her mother dies, 19-year-old Dana finds herself alone with her stepfather, a man who despises her. Desperate to find a better life for herself, she corresponds with widower, Caleb, who seeks only a mother for his son. A son who hasn't spoken a word since his mother's death. Dana lost her hearing at a young age and vows to help his son find his voice again. She falls in love with the boy, happy to be a wife to Caleb in name only. But when her feelings for Caleb begin to grow, she tries desperately to stop them. Can Caleb open his heart to Dana before he loses her?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With both parents working all hours and four younger brothers at home, the care and keeping of the household is squarely on her shoulders. When her father forces her to find a job in addition to everything else, it proves to be too much. Desperate for a way out, Mandy agrees to become a mail-order bride and marry a man she’s never met—a ranch hand named Matthew Bostwick, in Mine’s Place, Colorado. But traveling from Boston to Colorado is just the beginning of Mandy’s journey.