Aaron Brink, son of the Jubilee Springs mercantile owners, has been living in a small room above his parents’ store even though he is employed at the Prosperity Mine. When the mine owners announce they have contacted a mail order bride agency, and will allot company houses to the first ten miners who choose a bride and pay her way, he decides it is time for a house of his own. Shy Andrea Draper must escape her father’s ranch. Her father has discouraged all potential suitors because he does not want to lose his unpaid housekeeper, laundress, and the cook for him and his men. She has already lost her innocence to an abusive foreman, and believes his threats that he will kill her if she tells her father. Learning her friend intends to go to Jubilee Springs as a mail order bride, going with her seems Andrea’s only option for escape. She agrees to marry Aaron even though she knows he will discover her shame on their wedding night. While trying to convince him to be married in name only until he gains title to his house, at which time they can annul the marriage, Andrea’s father shows up to drag her home against her will. Learning what he is up against, Aaron must decide if it is just the house he wants, or if he wants Andrea.