"Pearl Dunnigan is in her September years, well beyond the age when most women fall in love. She married her childhood sweetheart years ago. Now as a widow, she operates the only boardinghouse in Willow Creek, Iowa, and is content with life until Hubert dares to convince her to dream again. During Hubert Behr's youth, blind ambition and careless actions destroyed his family and his marriage. Have the lessons he's learned since then made him worthy of a second chance, or has his past made him unsuitable for love? Hubert is willing to try again, but what will Pearl say when she learns his secrets? Hubert's estranged son arrives in town, and his anger and scorn threaten to undo Hubert's and Pearl's plans. When all the truth is revealed, will their love be destroyed or refined by fire? -- Cover verso.