Can a woman find her worth in something other than gold, and can a man learn that some things are out of his control?

Charity O'Connell receives a minimum of five marriage proposals a day from dirty miners and old men. When her pa drowned after being pinned in the creek by a fallen tree, Charity took up laundering to make ends meet. Especially after her gambling father lost every cent he ever made. Then, she receives a marriage proposal from handsome Gabriel Williams after Charity saves his daughter from being trampled, and Charity believes he's the answer to her prayer. Now, she can cook and clean for one man and his two children. No more leering glances or ribald comments. Gabriel Williams admires her spirit and believes she's the answer to his prayer.

Gabe and Charity agree to a marriage in name only, although Charity is upset that no man worth his salt wants her for anything more than a bedfellow and when she does find a man she could see herself making a life with, he isn't interested in anything more than someone to watch his children, and he's a gambler to boot. By the beginning of the following spring, if both parties are in agreement, they'll annul the marriage and part ways.

Neither expects love to interfere with their plans or for God to intervene with a plan of his own.