Now that her friends are all marrying or moving away, Heart Beachy has started feeling lonely. Worse, everyone keeps asking when she's going to find a man of her own. Don't they realize Heart has her hands full at home with her widowed dad, too many chores, and a menagerie of needy, small animals? Besides, she doesn't understand the fuss about marriage. It's enough to make her consider finally becoming a pet-sitter, or moving to an English community, where she won't be an oddity. Newcomer Clayton Glick is utterly charmed by Heart-- and completely confounded. He can't figure out why this beautiful woman is as awkward as a teenager whenever he's around, which is often now that he's an apprentice to her blacksmith father. So Clayton starts assisting with Heart's never-ending tasks, even helping her corral her unruly pets. How else can he court an adorably flustered woman who doesn't know the first thing about courtship? Because courting is exactly what he intends. Heart doesn't know why her pulse hammers every time she sees Clayton. She only knows yielding to such emotions will mean trouble. But maybe with a little faith-- and the loss of a shoe-- Clayton can convince her to join him on the road to happily ever after.