Jessica Russo's overbearing and emotionally abusive father has a plan for her, but a summer job on a dude ranch after high school graduation changes all that. Jess falls in love with and marries the ranch's head wrangler. Instead of escaping an abusive situation, Jess discovers that her husband, Clint, is not the man she thought he was. Their hardscrabble life on a small Arizona cattle ranch brings out the worst in him. After six years of constant fear and physical abuse, a freak roping accident sets her free, but who she thinks she is, and what she expects of herself has to change for her to escape the influence of her past and the relationship patterns she has come to expect.