Despite building a mansion in 1898 for a woman who elopes with another, Captain Royce manages to create a legacy on the hill overlooking Hannibal, Missouri. Tadd Winston, a successful immigrant, buys the house and must quickly produce a family he has deceived his Old World parents into believing exist. Maime Bradford, a World War I widow, inherits the large, empty house and soon becomes determined to open it to those abandoned by society-and to a new chance at love. Brian Lowe hides his Vietnam War wounds within the confines of the house on the hill-until a war protestor in the form of a pretty physical therapist challenges his perceptions about life.