When Bethany walks with her friend, Kezzie, to the neighbouring fair, she has no way of knowing that their journey will lead to peril and humiliation. Her friend's infatuation with Bill Judd nearly causes the fall of both young women. Abandoned by Kezzie, Bethany has no notion that the road she now treads will lead her beyond the reach of a family like the Judd's and into the lives of Richard and Bartholomew; who are two very different brothers.