Rancher Carsten Brenner feels obligated to escort Emma Hamner on the train to Texas when his two brothers and her two cousins switch their destinations. The three couples were on a trip, paid for by their grandfathers, to explore the women's family's past in Texas' cattle drive history and for the men to decide if they want to commit to life on the family ranch or pursue another career.

But one couple decides to travel to Illinois to explore the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the other couple leaves to watch the Kentucky Derby, leaving Carsten and Emma to travel alone to Texas.

Carsten is drawn to stay and work at the Cross C Ranch because he and his siblings have lived there since being adopted by Marcus and Sarah Brenner. The couple became his parents the day Carsten, one of the triplet brothers with Asher and Beckett, was born, and their widowed mother died.

Emma's stepfather, Leif Hamner, rescued Emma, her widowed mother, and two brothers after a train wreck left the young family injured and homeless in Austin, Texas, twenty years ago. Emma wants to see where it happened and find her father's grave in San Antonio.

The couple's trip changes their perspective of their past, the present, and possible future when confronted with the truth.