A romantic getaway vacation... in the pre-Civil War Ozarks? What if, alone and lost in a Missouri Ozarks cave in the twenty-first century, you stumble through an exit -- and land in the lap of an aromatic man in 1859?

Not your idea of the perfect vacation? Then pity Susa Hildebrand, dependent for survival on a cranky aerial photographer whose government mission outranks helping her find her way home, and whose assets include transportation (mules), food (beans), protection (a rifle), and a lusty aura. She also has to wear an ugly dress until someone even unluckier shows up in the dangerous, male-dominated border area. Bickford Pelletier can be mighty persuasive, though, and if she has to live in his time, Susa could do a lot worse. But what about the teenage twins she left behind?