Carolyn Lapp made a youthful mistake in her teens and had a child out of wedlock, a great shame in the Amish community. She refuses to reveal who the father is. While she loves her son Benjamin, now 15, with all her heart, she feels she will never have a husband and home of her own. She feels trapped in her past mistake. The church and her parents, whom they live with, have completely forgiven her, but her brother never lets her forget her sin. He reminds her at every turn. He even plays matchmaker insisting she settle for an older widower with a daughter, but Carolyn dreams of marrying for love.
Her brother has two sons that are real rascals and constantly blaming her son for their misdeeds. At a local auction, his cousins throw a rock and injure a horse belonging to Joshua Glick. When he catches up with them they blame Benjamin. Only his mother believes in his innocence. As punishment and to pay for the vet bill, Benjamin is forced to work on Joshua’s horse farm. The silver lining is that he will least be free of his cousins tormenting him.
Benjamin begins to enjoy his work and being there. Joshua seems to be a hard man. He is still grieving the loss of his brother who ran the farm with him. To make things worse, his heart is broken when his brother’s widow refuses to marry him and marries an Englisher. Believing he can never love again, he has put a wall around his heart.
Carolyn makes visits to the farm to bring Benjamin’s lunch and sometimes confront Joshua on what she deems unfair treatment of her son. The two begin to develop feelings they thought they would never have. The problem is Joshua thinks Benjamin is Carolyn’s brother.
Carolyn’s older brother has the widower courting her, and Joshua shows an interest too. Which should she choose? The one that will accept her or risk telling the one she loves the truth and possibly lose him. Joshua’s mother is pushing him to court a young woman she feels is “perfect” for him but whom he has no interest in. Trials, misunderstandings, and doubts cause many problems for the couple.
A big lesson is to be learned is how assumptions cause many relationship problems while open, honest communication strengthens them. This is a beautiful story of forgiveness and learning to trust God with your future, no matter what your past has been.
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