Seventeen year old Kaitlyn has grown into a beautiful woman who loves her family—yet part of her remains haunted by her past and her fear holds her back from courtships or physical contact of any kind. All she wants in life is to learn medicine from the town doctor and help heal the sick and wounded. When a patient ends of shot up and in the doc's home, Kaitlyn somehow finds herself drawn to him and her initial resistance begins to fade when he refuses to take no for an answer.Life has been hard on Pete Mears since he let Marston skip town five years before. Every belief he'd once held and every instinct to help and keep peace has been stripped away. Left alone to die in the middle of the snowy Dakota Territory, Pete accepts his fate only to discover that perhaps life isn't done with him just yet.Pete doesn't realize just who the enchanting woman he's fallen for is, until her pa comes to pick her up one day. Pete blamed Marston for his downfall so can he love Marston's daughter? And what will happen when a nightmare from Kaitlyn's past comes back to haunt them all?