After her father's death leaves her family penniless and homeless, Alex Parker hopes to profit from her family's sole remaining possession, an aging steamboat called Amazing Grace. With the funds from this sale, she can buy back her family home. But she needs a captain and no one on the river wants to work for a woman. Needing help, she turns to Captain Matthew Kinkade, a man who wants the boat for himself, a man whose desperation drives him to agree to Alex's outrageous plan of marriage in name only.

The love Matt and Alex find aboard Amazing Grace is powerful, but is it strong enough to withstand her insecurities, his tragic past, and the violent acts of a man out to destroy them both?