Olivia Aberdeen, destitute widow of a man shot as a traitor to the South, gratefully accepts an invitation from Elizabeth Harding, mistress of Belle Meade Plantation. Expecting to be the head housekeeper, Olivia is disillusioned when she learns the real reason Elizabeth's husband, Confederate General William Giles Harding, agreed to her coming. Not finding the safe haven she expects, Olivia is caught off guard by her feelings for Ridley Adam Cooper, a Southern man who seems anything but a Southern gentleman.