Rural Texas in 1886 was as far from the academic life of Chicago's University and its training hospital as a woman could get. Tess McLeish, who had been invited by Dr. Waverly to join his practice and his life as his wife, now finds herself waiting in Forever, Texas while he decides between her and another. Sheriff Carter, a sworn bachelor who never contemplated needing a woman, finds himself wanting Tess in his life. But will her indecisive fiancé decide to stick to his original agreement and take Tess as his wife, or will an unexpected threat in the shadows bring everything to a tragic end?