Eight years after her marriage Ave Maria Mulligan Mac discovers that the mountains she has dug roots into cannot shelter her from painful lessons of the heart. Almost everyone in the town has advice for her, but when she takes her daughter to Italy for the summer, her passion and a seductive stranger will test her marriage and push her to choose the man who is truly her destiny.

Nestled in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the town of Big Stone Gap has been home to Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney and her family for generations. She's been married to her beloved Jack for nearly twenty years, raised one child and buried another, and run a business that binds her community together, all while holding close her tight circle of family and friends. But with her daughter Etta, having flown the nest to Italy, Ave Maria has...