In the early years of the 1900s, a young widower named Jacob Witting (Christopher Walken) tries to raise his two young children in rural Kansas. This daunting task is exacerbated by the children who need a mother. Anna Witting (Lexi Randall) and her brother Caleb Witting (Christopher Bell) force Jacob to consider finding a wife any way he can. A tough but kind Maine woman named Sarah Wheaton (Glenn Close) offers to step into the breach, but only if she can affect their lives in a positive way. She wants a thirty-day test period before she decides whether to stay. Jacob realizes this is certainly not the same woman as his demure late wife, but agrees.