<p> It has been a difficult year for the ladies of Hope Springs, North Carolina, who bid a final farewell to a good friend. But Beatrice Newgarden Witherspoon, Jessie Jenkins, and Louise Fisher are ready to take on a new project: find a husband for their young, single pastor friend Charlotte Stewart, who is too busy running a shelter in New Mexico to look for a suitable companion herself. The search for Charlotte's perfect lifemate is turning up many unexpected things&#151;Beatrice's daughter has special news, the last person Louise would ever expect to see turns up on her doorstep, and Jessie's husband wishes to recommit to her forever. So one way or another, there will be a wedding, and perhaps more than one . . . with cake! </p>