The Merediths move to an isolated farm. Mrs. Meredith and the neighbour Will Cade become friends and anticipate becoming lovers.

Libby Meredith and her husband Roger, a college professor, have a quiet, comfortable marriage. They journey to the Great Smoky Mountain region of Tennessee, where Roger will spend his sabbatical year writing a book. Their neighbor, an unhappily married mountain man falls in love with Libby at first sight. Although plagued by guilt, Libby cannot deny the sudden, overwhelming passion and exuberance she feels as a result of the mountain man's confession of love. Their brief, idyllic infatuation is interrupted by sudden violence.—alfiehitchie