The last thing Orchid Canning expected when she traveled west with her father was to lose him to smallpox. Alone and desperate to fulfill his dream of photographing people's plights along the Oregon Trail, she finds herself in Last Chance, Nebraska, seeking a husband who will help her accomplish this goal. Will her life's savings of ten thousand dollars be enough to convince a man to marry her?

Aidan MacVeigh is going under. The drought has ruined everything he has worked for all these years. With his wife gone, the crops ruined, livestock starved, he has no choice but to pack up, tuck tail, and go back to New York. Can one young woman with a camera and an ambitious dream save him? Would it be so wrong to marry for convenience rather than love? Can his pride allow him to accept her crazy offer?