Emma Maureen Cummins is fleeing from an overbearing father and the prospect of a loveless marriage in Atlanta, Georgia. She's intrigued by stories of the Oklahoma land rush the previous year, 1889, and buys a train ticket to Oklahoma. After all, that's where the excitement is. Trouble arises the moment she steps inside the general store in Guthrie, coming face to face with the sheriff, who has received a telegram to be on the lookout for a tall blond from Georgia.

Jed Thomas just came to town to buy supplies for his homestead. The sheriff asked a strange lady a question just as she begins mouthing the words, "Help me, please," in Jed's direction. In half an hour Jed was married to the woman and wondering just how in the world it had all come about.

They're married on paper only but slowly come to realize through daily living, arguments, and compromises that they've fallen in love. However, Jed doesn't think a blue-eyed Southern belle could ever really love a dirt farmer like him. And Emma thinks Jed will always love Anna Marie, the woman with whom he almost had an agreement before he married her.