When Phil Kramer is shot dead on a deserted suburban street in the middle of the night, his wife, Emily, is left with an emptied bank account and a lot of questions. How could Phil leave her penniless? What was he going to do with the money? And, most of all, who was he if he wasn't the man she thought she married? Jerry Hobart has some questions of his own. It's none of his business why he was hired to kill Phil Kramer. But now that he's been ordered...

When socialite Emma Crowell stops the carriage on the way to Portland to "exercise" her new puppy, she is left behind in decidedly unsuitable attire, but soon found by local rancher Peter Lowery who says he will return her to civilization in the fall, but in the meantime, he expects Emma to earn her keep.