Mary Jo Spencer is a tree hugging environmentalist. She is an unabashed hillbilly who lives in the mountain wilderness of Arkansas with her parents and younger developmentally challenged brother. They have no telephone, plumbing or electricity and, while her father is away on a job with the only family car, their only mode of transportation is mule or buggy. Mary Jo wants to get a job and help her family, but she has no money to buy transportation.

Barrett Monroe is an independent young man who has worked his way through college, refusing assistance from his wealthy parents. He is recovering from a logging accident that caused the loss of a leg and a career as a forest ranger. A friend who is a private investigator hires him to pose as a timber man in order to get information on an accident that may have been a murder.

When Barrett runs his jeep off the road, Mary Jo reluctantly rescues the timber man. From the beginning, the two are at odds, yet they are attracted to each other. Are they even compatible?