In 1878 Adam Burke leaves Philadelphia for North Platte, Nebraska. The young lawyer wants to start a new life after being spurned by his fiancee. Adam also has another reason to leave — he accidentally ran over and killed a woman named Nancy Mason in a thunderstorm. In North Platte he finds success in more ways than one when Rachel Mason answers his ad for a mail order bride. Adam considers the last name an odd coincidence — but only after their marriage and after they both come to the Lord do they discover the awful truth: Adam killed Rachel's mother. Thanks to a pastor's intervention, Rachel overcomes her shock and bitterness to forgive Adam, just as God forgives us all.