Annie Petit has finally earned her teaching certificate, but it took two years longer than expected. With the Great Depression in full swing, Annie knows she has little chance of finding a teaching position. She answers an advertisement for the position of governess and discovers five children in need of a mother. Every day she spends with them, she grows to love them more.Dr. Coren Winslow lost his wife in childbirth. Now he has become domineering and overprotective, refusing to chance losing anyone else. The governess his sister hired to teach his children challenges his rules at every turn. Little by little, as Coren relaxes control, he finds he needs Annie as much as his children do. When his sister leaves for home, he asks Annie to marry him.Annie agrees to marry Coren, knowing full well he may never learn to love her. She also knows she is falling in love with him. Dare she hope that Coren is beginning to feel the same for her? Or is she doomed to spend the rest of her life in a loveless marriage? Is there any way Coren will ever learn to love Annie?