Part time help becomes full time love in this fast paced younger man--older woman romance story. Lisbeth Henslee is a 42 year old registered nurse living with her 5 year old son Elijah on a 480 acre hay farm on the Cimarron River in western Oklahoma. Elijah's father died soon after his birth and not long after she married Chris Henslee, a life-long friend of her deceased husband Doug--hoping he would be a good father to her young son. But the union is ill-fated from the beginning--not the least because of Chris' addiction to casino gambling and his association with another woman. Temptation comes into Lisbeth's life when she hires Jed Payne, a 25 year old drifting carpenter to make repairs to her barn and in spite of 17 years difference in their ages attraction exist from the beginning and he wants desperately to become her lover, but Lisbeth is determined to deny the physical attraction she feels for him despite her marriage with Chris being a great disappointment. Attraction turned to love prompts desperation, and homicidal plans are set in motion.