Hope Springs, SD

Sometimes a second chance is your first shot at happiness. Casie Carmichael is hardworking but softhearted. She has a broken-down mare, two baby lambs, three lost teens, a busted-up bronc rider, and a whole lot of trouble. Casie has returned home to Hope Springs, South Dakota, to sell the family's tumbledown ranch with the hope of returning to Sioux Falls and her very practical fianc├®. But leaving Hope Springs isn't quite as easy as she thought it would be, especially since her barn seems to have a homing beacon leading every bedraggled stray in the territory straight to it. Casie must deal with angry parents, hairless goats, and a former flame's new heat-but these are nothing when compared to her own mixed-up heart. As Casie tries to make a safe haven for her motley crew, she realizes that she is home, for good and all.

Welcome to the Lazy Windmill, where guests find that life is what you make it, love is priceless, and family is determined by far more than DNA. Casie Carmichael's accidental dude ranch is well on its way, but the residents of her Hope Springs haven are running wild. With an unwed mother-to-be, a turbulent teen romance, and a bronc-riding grandmother to contend with, the last thing Casie has time for is a romantic relationship. But convincing recently returned Colt Dickenson she's not interested in him-or the confusion he causes her-is easier said than done. Yet as Casie's ragtag crew saddles up to help with everything from birthing babies to legal woes, she finally begins to see that family wears many faces-and being independent isn't the same as being alone.

Wild horses, wild hearts-and a diapered lamb under the Christmas tree… Could life get any more hectic at the Lazy Windmill? With the holidays reminding Casie of every mistake she's ever made, and her assistant Emily struggling to be a single mom, it's anyone's guess what the New Year will bring. Then bad boy Colt Dickenson shows up with a ring. No one has ever gotten under her skin like he has, but Casie can't believe a rough stock cowboy will stick around for the long haul. Still, the heart wants what it wants; love is as stubborn as family, foals, and farm equipment. And sometimes you have to face your fears to find the happiness only coming home can bring.