Why does everyone think a girl’s only lot in life is to find a husband and settle down? Kathleen Muldoon is twenty-three and tired of ranch living. Fiercely independent and determined to become a nurse, she has left her family’s ranch to study medicine under Old Doc Jensen andlive in town with her Aunt Mae, who runs a boardinghouse.   Daniel Monroe has just arrived in Porterfield to set up his law practice. Sparks fly when he is introduced to Kate at the boardinghouse, but the initial attraction quickly dissolves into an argument, the first of many. Daniel is enamored with Kate but uncomfortable with her independent spirit and dreams of becoming a nurse.   When trouble erupts between the ranchers and lumberjacks over timber rights, Kate is furious to learn that Daniel has worked out an agreement she believes will destroy her father’s land.
