A plain, repressed spinster falls for a dashing young medical student who prefers the wilder life, until it's too late.

Since childhood, spinster Alma Winemiller has loved handsome young Dr. John Buchanan, Jr.. But John has fallen hard for Rosa Zacharias, the town's sultry vamp, and descends into a seamy nightlife while ignoring Alma's dreams of romance and possible marriage.—alfiehitchie

It's the early 1910s in the small town of Glorious Hill, Mississippi. Alma Winemiller, of an age when most women would be married, has an affected manner, which she attributes to assuming the role usually undertaken by a minister's wife after her mother long ago suffered a mental breakdown. Also being a minister's daughter has led to Alma having a repressed view of sex and sexuality. She has long harbored a secret love toward the Winemullers' next door neighbor, Dr. John Buchanan, Jr., he following in his father's footsteps. That occupation is the only thing connecting the two generations of Buchanan men, the younger known as the town's bad boy in his wild behavior, largely taking place when he is away, he usually only coming home in the summer. This summer, he pursues equally wild Rosa Zacharias, new to town as the daughter of the new owner of the Moon Lake Casino located on the outskirts of town. Regardless, John is aware of Alma's attraction to him, he, in return, intrigued in noticing in her something seething somewhere below the surface. The question then becomes if Alma and John will ever be able to come together both emotionally and sexually.—Huggo