Nessa's winter was fraught will bitter trials. But now the promise of spring has come to Prairie River -- and so has Albert. Albert is Nessa's oldest friend from the orphanage. She had prayed that he would join her in Kansas ever since she journeyed to the small, remote town a year ago. But a year is a long time, and Nessa is discouraged when Albert's arrival is not what she had imagined. Things are different between them, and Nessa must reconcile the changes if she has any hope that their old friendship will bloom into something new.