Early in World War Two, at her twin brother’s funeral, a privileged young woman from Baltimore meets a Navy pilot her same age. Rachel is drawn to Bob’s boyish charm and artistic interests. But she feels prejudice toward the Southerner who comes from a hardscrabble Protestant background, so different from her Jewish upbringing. Bob, in turn, admires the beautiful Rachel, whose drive and decisiveness set her apart from the hometown Alabama sweetheart he seems destined to marry.

As Rachel and Bob begin a tentative long-distance correspondence, the war’s effects on their personal lives challenge each of them to face their own lifelong biases.

When the Navy transfers Bob to Chicago, where Rachel now lives and works, their relationship unexpectedly deepens into an interfaith romance. In this heart-warming historical novel, they overcome their own prejudices in different ways as their love grows.