A milliner, Miss Love Simpson, becomes the object of a scandal in the small town of Cold Sassy, Georgia, in 1906. She marries Rucker Blakeslee, a much older man and proprietor of the town's general store, only three weeks after his first wife died. The town and his family are shocked by the hasty marriage, and the townspeople systematically ostracize Love. As time goes on, what began as a marriage of convenience becomes something much deeper. Yet Love finds herself unable to accept Rucker's affection because of a terrible secret from her past.

A milliner, Miss Love Simpson, becomes the object of a scandal in the small town of Cold Sassy, Georgia, in 1906. She marries Rucker Blakeslee, a much older man and proprietor of the town's general store, only three weeks after his first wife died. The town and his family are shocked by the hasty marriage, and the townspeople systematically ostracize Love. As time goes on, what began as a marriage of convenience becomes something much deeper. Yet Love finds herself unable to accept Rucker's affection because of a terrible secret from her past.