1871 Born to privilege and duty, Olivia Gentry comes of age as women begin to find their social and political independence. The youngest child, and only daughter, of a successful Virginia family, she has been raised and educated to carry on the family horse breeding business with her brothers. Having been deceived in love as a young woman and unsure of her instincts, she is wary to commit to marriage, but she cannot deny her long-buried feelings for a family friend.

Jim Somerset has been in love with Olivia Gentry from the moment she gazed up at him as a young girl. A farrier by trade like his father before him, and Olivia's brother's closest friend, he is inexorably entwined with the Gentry family. He has watched her be courted by statesmen and considers her and her goals out of the reach of a common workman. Can he purge Olivia from his mind and his heart? Or has the moment come for him to reveal his passion for her?