A fan-favorite character from The Sheriffs of Savage Wells is the focus of this story about a forward-thinking doctor on the Wyoming frontier who sends away for a mail-order bride with nursing experience.

Miriam steps off the train looking for a job, not a husband. She refuses to be wed, and Gideon is unspeakably embarrassed by the misunderstanding. Stranded in Savage Wells, Miriam has nowhere else to go - and a secret that she's determined to keep from everyone. She has epilepsy, a condition that other doctors had claimed was symptomatic of madness, a diagnosis which prompted her family to have her committed to an asylum. Miriam is afraid that if Dr. MacNamara finds out the truth, he will send her back to the asylum - a place that is little better than a prison.

But Gideon is not like the other doctors she has encountered, and he offers Miriam the nursing position anyway. When illness sweeps through the town, Gideon and Miriam work together to care for the growing number of sick people. As they do so, their relationship slowly grows into something deeper. When Miriam's former doctor arrives in town to take her back to the asylum, Gideon, along with some familiar faces in Savage Wells - including Cade, Paisley, and Hawk - must rally around Miriam to protect her from a dangerous fate. And for Gideon, it might mean risking his heart one more time for a chance at love.