Tillie Thompson does not want to be a mail-order bride. Relinquishing the choice of who she falls in love with feels like giving up the only decision that would truly be her own in shaping her future. With the prospect of opening her own school—which will have an arts-based curriculum—hanging in the balance, Tillie decides to risk her autonomy on the handsome Dr. William T. Powers, but only if he will agree to a special arrangement. Dr. Powers has accomplished his goals of becoming a doctor, and building a magnificent family home, but neither of those make up for the lack of companionship in his life. Desperate to find a suitable woman to marry, the doctor places an ad for a mail-order bride. Will the austere doctor put aside his distaste for theatre when he falls for a woman who adores the arts? Or will their differences define Tillie as the mail-order teacher, instead of the mail-order bride?