The White River is treacherous even in good weather, but steamboat caption Isaac Chase hopes to make one more round trip before winter sets in. He has no choice - he must earn enough money to repair the vessel by spring. Then, during a sudden storm that traps him on the river, an explosion on board knocks him unconscious - and the first face he sees when he comes to is Annie Dunbar's.
Annie knows taking in the injured captian is the only decent thing to do. Someone has to care for him, and there is a spare room at the boardinghouse she owns. But she'd have slammed the door and locked it had she realized that he was the one man who could bring her carefully constructed world tumbling down - and heal her wounded heart. Yet with that healing comes the yearning to love again …