Kirsten needs a new, inexpensive place to live. To see a good possibility, she must talk to a preacher, of all people. He’s the most gorgeous man she’s ever laid eyes on, and the perfect property is more than she ever dreamed. She can ignore the preacher. Besides, a church is the last place she’d ever go, not with her shady past. At first she’s drawn by the church carillon’s music, then by Hope, his toddler daughter with a mind of her own.

His hands full with a needy congregation and single parenthood, the last thing Michael wants is another distraction. Kirsten is too attractive, too…enticing…to a father desperately in need of someone to care for his daughter who won’t spoil her rotten. He is far too aware of her beauty and compassion. She stirs his senses and thaws his frozen heart. Worse yet, he needs someone to help with the church’s youth group, and Kirsten is, after all, a teacher who conveniently lives across the street?

A cantankerous member of the church’s Board has taken Kirsten in extreme dislike. His wife has been babysitting Hope since her birth. Both are furious that out of nowhere Kirsten has supplanted them, and has, in fact, become Hope’s favorite person next to her father. When an ice storm forces Michael and Kirsten into a compromising situation, Hazel and Horace think the worst and do their best to stir up the congregation, as well as drive Kirsten and Michael apart.

Michael and Kirsten are each others’ best hope for a bright, loving future, but the obstacles facing them seem too great to overcome. Can time, prayer–and love–overcome their dilemma?