Julia's father is a famous US senator and wants his daughter to marry a man of this choosing. Julia wants to marry for love. Phillip wants Holmes to come home now that he's finished his schooling and take over his father's law practice in their small town. Phillip is afraid Holmes will be to disappointed to stay in the small town now that his intended, who was supposed to be waiting for him at home, has married someone else. So Phillip writes letters to Julia in Holmes' name to lure her to their small town. He reasons that if his son has someone else to marry, he will stay in Liberty and work along side of him. After months of writing to her, he proposes and Julia accepts since his letters were so sweet. She feels certain she's already in love with Holmes. When she finally arrives in Liberty, she meets Conrad, Holmes' brother, and feels instantly attracted to him. She imagines Holmes will be as wonderful as his brother. However, Holmes is not in Liberty, and he doesn't show up anytime soon. In the meantime, Conrad is informed by his father to show Julia around the farm and make sure Julia is happy so she won't become impatient with Holmes' delay. Conrad soon finds that he must fight off the feelings he has for Julia. He refuses to allow a woman to come between him and his brother, which would surely happen if he gives into his feelings of attraction for Julia. He realizes Holmes must care greatly for Julia if he proposed to her in a letter. What happens when Julia changes her mind about marrying Holmes, yet Conrad refuses to hurt his brother? What happens when Holmes finds out his father has proposed to a girl for him? This story is an interesting read. It moves along nicely. The author does a good job of letting you see into the thought process of the main characters. The brothers are full of honor, wanting only to do the honorable thing. The father is so convinced he knows what's best that he's willing to be dishonest, and justifies his actions because he truly believes he is doing what is best for everyone. Julia is very honest with Conrad and suffers a broken heart for her efforts. The bottom line is, there is too much misplaced honor where the men are concerned, and not enough honesty on their part.