The year is 1823. Rebecca Moore lives deep in the woods of Morgan County, Kentucky with her baby, and her father, Zachariah. Her baby's father has died in a mining accident before they could be married. Zachariah is coming in and out of being demented. A young man named John Stacey comes into their lives. He has lost his family farm and tries to gain it back by an agonizing engagement to the beautiful Englishwoman who now lives there. His heart leads him to go to Ireland to fight the cause of the poor displaced tenant farmers. Rebecca struggles to hold her world together, not even realizing that a big part of her heart is now far across the sea. Her heart has a plan of its own, refusing to accept fate, reaching out to claim the one hope that will save her.