It is late autumn when Collie Wright sees a man moving through the woods
toward her cabin on the edge of the small mountain community where she
lives alone with her baby. She gets out her butcher knife, puts Jonathan
down, and waits. To her relief, the man turns out to be only a lost
traveler with his young daughter.
Recently widowed Wayland Jackson, with twelve-year-old daughter Paula,
is on his way to Tennessee to practice his profession as a clockmaker.
Strong-willed and independent, Collie takes the Jacksons in, steadfastly
refusing to identify her baby's father. Wayland's gentleness and humor
appeal to her; everything about Collie appeals to him. By mutual
consent, he and Paula stay.
The collusion is acknowledged by Collie's brothers, who take Wayland
along on an exhilarating bear hunt, an initiation ceremony of sorts. On
his return, Wayland sets up his clock making business, and he and Collie
begin to think of marriage.
But peace and contentment come to an end by the sudden appearance late
one night at Collie's cabin of her baby's father, precipitating a
violent showdown and the promise of further bloodshed--until Collie
makes the most painful decision of her life.