Delightful and determined Hannah Evans arrives in the isolated frontier town of Franklins Shallows, Pennsylvania leaving behind dreams of medicine and threats of marriage. Refusing to become any man's chattel, Hannah accepts the Schoolmarm contract forbidding her to marry.Nicholas Hoffman, the formidable and traditional Sherriff, spurned by a failed arranged engagement becomes drawn to Hannah against his best intentions. A murder and the unearthing of two shallow graves, places Hannah directly in the handsome Sherriff's path. This clandestine country town with its covetousness Sherriff may be more than Hannah can handle.