Chance McCord is the long missing, thought lost, prodigal offspring of the North Star Ranch in the shadow of Wyoming's Grand Tetons. Returning to town, he meets up with Casey and her son Jamie, visiting for the summer, as Casey's Aunt Billie is the ranch cook and her late husband was the foreman. Casey is assisting the ranch patriarch, Jason, in collating genealogical records and family reminiscences onto computer so he can eventually write a memoir. Casey is puzzled when Chance requests a ride out to the ranch, then asks to be dropped off two miles early He's claimed his family has had no contact with him for the past five years.

Chance's return to his family is problematical; his father seems pleased to see him, but there's no mending the broken bridge between himself and brother Kyle, nine years younger. Casey fully understands grief as she lost her pilot husband two years earlier, but for her, faith has sustained in the hard times. Chance has no faith and doesn't seem to want to find any. In the midst of her compassion, all Casey can do is pray for wisdom and watch the growing bond develop between her small son Jamie and Chance McCord.