Soon after young widow Samantha Richards and her son return to her hometown, she encounters Brad Davis, the boy who lived next door during her childhood. She had a mad crush on Brad while growing up and now finds him more attractive than ever. But the profession Brad has chosen renders him the kind of man she has vowed to avoid: he has become the protégé of Samantha's cold and career-obsessed father, the eminent Dr. Benton Howard. Nothing and no one has ever seduced Brad from his single-minded dedication to medicine--until Samantha moved back to town. But Sam is looking for an eight-to-five kind of guy, who will give her and her son the warm and stable family life she's never had. Samantha's son, however, wants Brad for his new father, and he is melting his aloof grandfather's reserve, thereby complicating his mother's resolve.