Resigned to being an old maid, Elizabeth Holt works at the library and lives quietly in the small town of Cedar Gap, Texas. The 1929 financial crash leaves her penniless and devastated. Her devious aunt Lavinia has squandered her inheritance in the stock market.

Reverend John Reardon has recently become the pastor of a church in Cedar Gap. Unbeknown to the congregation, the chairman of the deacons invested the church's assets in now worthless stocks. When the bank forecloses on the church and parsonage, Reardon trades his furniture for lodging in the house where Elizabeth lives with her cunning Aunt Lavinia.

John tries to make the best of living in a house with a manipulative schemer and a woman who trusts no one. He is running out of options when Elizabeth makes him an offer he can't afford to refuse.