At thirty years old and unmarried, Vesta Blonik' s future looks bleak when her widowed father remarries, sells the family farm, and moves away during the depths of the Great Depression, leaving her behind. With winter approaching, she seeks shelter with her brother Josef and his wife, Eva, in a nearby town. The two women start a laundry business to make ends meet, but when Eva announces she' s expecting a baby, Vesta realizes she must forge her own path.

Meanwhile, in eastern North Carolina, Gordon Crenshaw is engulfed in despair after losing his wife and newborn during childbirth. Concerned for his well-being, his family commits him to Dix Hill, the state mental hospital. Struggling against his grief, Gordon' s disruptive behavior leads his family to seek his release, but they learn he can only be discharged if a suitable caretaker is found. Through connections in the Carolinas and Minnesota, the Crenshaws find Vesta and pose as Gordon, and her suitor, through letters that hide the truth of his situation. When Vesta agrees to marry Gordon, unaware of the deception, she travels south, only to learn the full extent of the Crenshaws' lie after the wedding.

Bound by necessity and circumstance, Vesta and Gordon must navigate their new life amid the tobacco fields of North Carolina, confronting their pasts and discovering the possibility of love in unexpected places.