The year is nineteen-seventeen. America has just gone to war. Ruth Garland has earned her nursing certificate and looks forward to fulfilling her dream of becoming a medical missionary. She returns home to visit her sister, Rachel, and learns Rachel has only a few weeks to live. Rachel begs Ruth to take care of her three children. "Bring them up in the church. Show them how to live a Christian life." Ruth agrees. And then her sister asks her to make one more promise. "When I am gone, will you marry my Henry?"