At her assisted living center in Wedding Tree, Louisiana, ninety-three-year-old Amélie O'Connor is in the habit of leaving her door open for friends. One day she receives an unexpected visitor—Kat Thompson, the ex-fiancée of her late husband, Jack. Kat and Jack were high school sweethearts who planned to marry when Jack returned from France after World War II. But in a cruel twist of fate, their plans were irrevocably derailed when a desperate French girl overheard an American officer's confession in a Parisian church . . .

Now Kat wants to know the truth behind a story that's haunted her whole life. Finding out how Amélie stole Jack's heart will—she thinks—finally bring her peace. As Amélie recalls the dark days of the Nazi occupation of Paris, The French War Bride reveals how history shapes the courses of our lives . . . for better or for worse.