Jefferson Randolph is angry at the world for the arm he lost in the War Between the States and the destruction of his family. Embittered and reclusive, he's certain he'll never be happy until he marries a true Southern belle and rebuilds his family home. The last person he expects to stand in his way is a fiery redhead from Massachusetts who is the housemother for his two mischievous nieces, the stereotype of everything he detests in a woman. She's a Yankee who refuses to defer automatically to men, she has opinions she holds to firmly and states loudly, she wears strong bright colors, and she is determined to be independent. He's furious that, even after the quarantine is over, he can't stop thinking about her.

Violet Goodwin has come west to discover what happened to her uncle and why the mine he left her is worthless. To support herself, she's taken a job as housemother in an exclusive girl's school. After Jeff Randolph is quarantined in the school with her and her sixteen young charges for five days, she wonders how she can be attracted to a man she dislikes so much. He appears to be self-pitying, angry, and emotionally distant. She can't understand why she could fantasize about him though she can't deny the man's physique is impressive. She hardly notices his missing arm, but she is stingingly aware of his ridiculous ideas about women. She's determined to prove that you don't have to be a young, mindless, southern belle to make a good wife.