With the fruits of a successful season safely stowed, whaling captain Robert Thorpe reaches a milestone. The treasures of the sea will buy him a ship, with enough left over to purchase a house and find a wife. He has no lady in mind, but the tavern wench who catches his eye is surely the wrong woman for him. Forced to work in her stepmother's tavern, Beth Gordon faces gossip and lies that shred her hopes for a proper marriage. She has met only one man worth knowing, and he believes her a strumpet. If only she could return to her grandmother's home in the Highlands. Difference and misunderstandings threaten. Is love enough?