Patient is she who follows the true path of love. Pearl Galloway has come to Stayton School to teach, not to marry. But Judson Rome, the chairman of the school board, has other ideas. His educated eye has settled on Pearl as the perfect candidate to be his wife and mother to his three children. Although she comes to love the schoolchildren, Pearl feels no such emotions for Judson. At the same time, however, she realizes her apathetic attitude toward him could spell the end of her teaching career. But Pearl's course in love has not been dismissed yet. There's another man in her life, one who may step over the thorns in love's tender path.