It is Easter 1863 and fifteen-year-old Ellen Loretta Shepard is terrified she will be violated by one of the Union soldiers marching through her family's Mississippi cotton plantation while on their way to battle. When they hear word that troops are approaching, the family members busy themselves hiding their valuables. A day later, the troops arrive and create havoc, but thankfully do not burn the plantation or violate Ellen or her sisters.

As the Civil War rages on, Ellen matures into a beautiful young woman who has now reached the age where she wishes to marry an honest and loving man. Unfortunately, good men are in short supply, and the ones she finds are more than twice her age and deemed unacceptable by her family. When she meets the charismatic Jasper Lee at a church event, Ellen eventually marries him, despite her father's objections. But when he dies just six years later, Ellen is left to defend the estate he left her and raise their only son. Will she somehow find a way to move on and realize happiness once again?

In this novel based on true events, a young woman experiences romance, hardships, and forgiveness while living in the Deep South during the mid-to-late nineteenth century.