She went west to marry a stranger... In 1892, Hannah Carlson, an innocent young farm girl from Iowa, arrives in Flagstaff, Arizona, as a mail-order bride. She marries Jacob Moore and soon finds herself isolated on his ranch with a sadistic monster. After months of physical and mental brutality, Hannah-nearly dead from her injuries-fights back, striking a fatal blow, and flees into the night. Now she's on the run from the law with her infant son... Now he's the only one who can save her... When lonely surveyor Brice Fowler discovers the battered woman who has taken refuge in his cabin, he tends her wounds, takes care of her, and finds her sanctuary on the Jesse Bidwell Ranch, caring for the rancher's ailing wife. Brice falls deeply in love with Hannah and wants to marry her, but she fears the intimacy of marriage. After running afoul of an overzealous cowboy, Hannah is arrested, tried, and sentenced to hang for the murder of her husband. Knowing she has only one chance, Brice combs the deserts of Arizona for an unlikely witness whose testimony could save her life. But will he make it in time?