In the time when women often died in childbirth and men remarried to have someone to care for the house and children, new mothers sometimes cut off relationships with the maternal grandparents. Ellie is a strong young woman faced with circumstances that are not her choice. When Ellie's older sister Regina dies at the birth of her third child, her parents request that Ellie break off her engagement to the man she loves and marry their son-in-law, John, so the children will stay in the family.
Ellie reluctantly agrees but determines in her heart to give it her all to make it a good marriage. She and John begin life with a somewhat contrived feeling to their relationship, but love grows because they are both committed to it.