Rachel Stanhope tries to see the good in everyone. But Josh Reegan tests even the benevolent Rachel's good graces when they meet outside her Arlington, Virginia, dance studio on a brisk fall morning in 1951. A journalist and former World War II Air Force pilot, Josh considers distractions like ballroom dancing frivolous wastes of time. Still, he can't refuse the assignment when his newspaper ropes him into covering one of her studio's competitions in New York City. The last thing either of them expects is mutual need and support. But once they stop dancing around the truth, the results are unforgettable.