Plot Synopsis

Based on the book by Serena B. Miller. Army nurse Grace Conner spends her furlough with her teenage sister Becky and grandmother Elizabeth on a rural Ohio farm while deciding whether to re- enlist. Neighbor Levi Troyer comes seeking medical assistance for his pregnant mother, shot during a home robbery in which his stepfather was killed. Grace stabilizes Levi's mother until the ambulance arrives and accompanies her to the hospital where the doctor delivers a healthy boy. Grace regularly looks in on Levi's family, learning that although she and her handsome neighbor have become friendly, his family's strict Swartzentruber Amish sect forbids any type of relationship with an outsider. He tells Grace they cannot be friends. The local authorities investigate the shooting and suspicions point to a young local who was recently released from prison. Grace learns more about the Swartzentruber sect; marriage outside the sect results in shunning by the entire community. Grace learns that Becky has been exchanging letters with prisoners as part of a church program and her younger sister's erratic hours away from home lately, with a killer on the loose, has Grace concerned. The bishop of the Amish community stations his daughter Zillah at Levi's family home to help out, clearly pushing for marriage between them. After Zillah discovers that Levi has a secret stash of forbidden books, she threatens to expose him if he does not marry her. As Grace and Levi come to spend more time together they begin to open up to each other and it becomes clear that there is a strong attraction between them. Zillah accuses Levi of "bundling" with her during her stay with his family; he will be shunned by his community unless he confesses his sin and marries Zillah. Levi refuses to admit to something he did not do and prepares to be shunned. Grace must now make the decision to be with Levi or return to her army career.