Practical, no-frills Lacey knows most people would think that being in love with your childhood best friend is the perfect situation. Too bad her best friend isn't in love with her, and he just happens to be a rodeo bronc rider who left home to make a name for himself and never came back to stay. Nate is a good man, but small-town life has never suited him, and Lacey has learned to keep her feelings to herself. Lacey knows all about taking care of things: Nate's momma, her family ranch, her brothers' kids. But when Nate's momma's house catches fire, Lacey does something she's never done before; she calls Nate and asks him to come home.

Nate turns his boots back toward the east Texas dirt and the only true constant in his life, his own personal Annie Oakley. There he finds that most things in his sleepy hometown haven't changed, some have, and some are threatening to change him all the way to his heart.