Jorden “Jordie” Butler grew up on a farm, several miles from the small town of Tuke’s Valley in Washington State. When she gets a job at a chain bookstore in the nearby city of Vancouver, she and a co-worker dream of one day having their own bookstore. 

Fortunately, one of the benefits of her job is partial reimbursement of tuition at the local community college. Jordie decides to work toward a business degree. Unfortunately, Jordie loses her job when the bookstore eventually closes, and she has difficulty finding another one that will allow her to work part-time and go to school. Could it be that Jordie’s dream of having her own business one day may be just that - a dream?  

Gilbert “Gib” Gibson also grew up in Tuke’s Valley, but when his mother passed away his senior year of high school, he moved to Oregon to live and work in construction with his older brother. Now he is something of an all around handyman who can do just about any kind of repairs, including carpentry, electrical, mechanical, and much more.  

When his stepfather dies, Gib returns to Tuke’s Valley to sell the home and see if he can find anything that belonged to his mother. But the house is a mess of semi-packed boxes and he realizes it will take more time than he thought. A former classmate asks him to look at the bookstore his wife and her business partner just purchased, and give them an estimate on repairs. Gib agrees and when he walks inside the bookstore, he sees a woman hanging precariously from a ladder. He rushes up to help, just as she falls.