A rancher distances himself from a clumsy and overweight laundress he was tricked into marrying ... until she seeks a divorce and other men start courting her. Then, he wants her back.
Character DrivenLove StoryPeriodRural
Time Period: 18th- 19th CenturyStory Location: USASpecial Effects: No SFXTarget Audience: AdultA retired gunman, Will Kincaid, returns from a cattle drive. Believing his brother, Jed, has the local clumsy laundress, Annie, in the family way and refuses to marry her, Will does the honorable thing and makes her his bride. Unfortunately, he discovers too late this was another of Jed's practical jokes and he just took Annie's virginity. If he got his hands on that low-down skunk of a brother of his, he'll kill him.
From the very start the couple have difficulties. Will refuses to share a bedroom with her and encourages her to divorce him. She refuses and tells him the only basis for divorce is infidelity.
Annie knows nothing about ranch life and her cooking skills are non-existent. Daily catastrophes in the kitchen are laughable to everyone by Will and he ends up taking his meals with his wranglers in the bunkhouse. There's one thing Annie is good at though - laundry - and she's so good at that when Will makes her furious, he finds his clothes on the clothesline starched so stiff they can stand by themselves.
Will has been lusting for a piece of land that will make him the largest rancher in the State of Texas, but he can't afford it. A neighboring rancher will give Will the money for the purchase, provided Will divorces Annie and marries his daughter. While he's thinking on it, his ex-fiance appears unexpectedly and cajoles her way back into the house where she makes a play for him. It's the last straw for Annie. She's out of there!
Leaving the ranch, she moves back to town and with her newly developed skills in making desserts and breads, opens a bakery. She's stunned to learn she's the beneficiary of her deceased Uncle's estate, however, the Will stipulates she marry and bear a child within three years in order to inherit the entire fortune. She appears before the Circuit Court Judge seeking a divorce based on Will's adultery with his ex-fiance. The judge refuses unless Will comes before him and confesses the extra-marital affair himself.
Will realizes his misses Annie and doesn't need the land to be happy, and he wants his ex out of the house. When Annie asks him to speak to the judge, he refuses. Then a parade of men, one after another, appear at his door suggesting he confess his infidelities to the judge so they can start courtin' Annie.
Things get even more complicated when someone tries to kill the estranged couple.
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