Joyce Mitchell was widowed far too young when her beloved husband, Mitch, died in a tragic accident five years ago. Since then she's kept herself occupied by running The Sewing Circus, an all-girl group she founded to provide badly needed services like day care and job counseling to young women, many of whom are single mothers. More important, The Circus is a place for lively, wide-ranging, heart-to-heart discussions that will help members grow into what Joyce likes to call "twenty-first-century free women".
But Joyce has to admit that something is missing. To further complicate matters, due to funding cuts, she may not have The Sewing Circus much longer.
Feeling defeated and pessimistic, Joyce reluctantly agrees to keep a date for dinner at the home of her best friend, Sister - a reverend like no other - and finds not only a perfect meal but a tall, dark stranger named Nate Anderson.
But life moves at its own pace, and as Sister says, "if you want to make God laugh, make plans". Particularly when it comes to matters of the heart. Joyce decides the trick is to stay focused and to remember that nothing is as sexy as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, especially if you tell it while you're wearing a perfect red dress . . .
