Missie three years later: being a single mother after her husband Willie was shot during a poker scuffle. She and Maddy move back in with her parents Clark and Marty. She finds a new home, and finds a new teaching position that she settles right into, but Missie has lost all faith in herself, until a chance encounter at her father's church where she adopts homeless orphan Belinda Marshall. Missie didn't want to adopt another child into the family, as she is already taking care of Addie, but decides to welcome her in with open arms. Missie also finds interest in Zack Tyler, the town's sheriff. There are subplots and incidents that mirror Missie's tragic losses, and through the experiences will she ever find a way to bring hope and joy?

A middle-class man turns to a life of crime in order to finance his niece's first year at Harvard University.

A woman is in love with a man in love with another woman, and all three have designs on a young man raised as an ape.