Desperate to escape a forced marriage, Karyn Ensinger flees Brandenberg, Germany, and travels to America in response to a plea for "German wives" for a group of lonely men in a place called Nebraska. At least, Karyn thinks, her husband will be someone she has chosen for herself. Married to a stranger, Karyn is horrified when she realizes Mikal Ritter expects her to live in what he calls a "sod house." Mud and heat, hail storms and rattlesnakes, prairie fires and desperate loneliness tempt Karyn to despair. She has just begun to believe her marriage of convenience has the potential to turn to love when the life she has worked so hard to build is threatened with destruction.