Resigned to living a sexless, loveless life, Doctor Nathan Tierney knows something is missing. In a rash decision, he leaves his life-consuming job at Mass General Hospital, Boston, to be the small-town doctor in Belfast, Maine. With the job comes a house, and with the house comes a handyman-painter.

Trent Jamieson, a nomadic artist, and his dog Bentley, are offered free accommodation for the few weeks he fixes up the hospital-owned house. Nathan is transfixed by this free-spirited, undeniably gorgeous man.

Confused but amazed to feel any kind of attraction - much less to a man - Nathan convinces himself to put aside any preconceived ideas, and allows himself to just feel. As their attraction for each other grows, one man learns to live, the other learns to love. But just who is teaching who?