Paradise Valley

Marine corporal Rick Sudder comes home from Iraq earlier than planned, his tour cut short on the battlefield. The easygoing boy who left is gone. In his place is a man scarred in body and spirit who expects nothing good from the years ahead. A young woman who has never given up on him is determined to prove him wrong.

Virgin River, the close-knit mountain town where Rick grew up, rallies around its returned son. The town is known for making newcomers welcome, and that reputation is tested by a second arrival.

Dan Brady has a questionable past and wants a fresh start. He hopes Virgin River can be that place, though he has no clear way in. The connection he does find comes from an unexpected direction: a woman who has been an outcast herself.

This is a small-town contemporary romance with two storylines running side by side. One follows a wounded veteran and the woman who stays beside him. The other follows an outsider trying to earn a place in a community. Both men are working toward the same thing, a way to make peace with who they used to be and to recover the hopes they believed were gone.