At 40, Dr. Keegan Wade is the Chief of Trauma Surgery, a rising star at NYC General. She's immersed 24-7 in work that she once loved. No one waits for her at home, and she has nothing to offer. Anxiety has her in a chokehold and she'd give anything to sleep more than two consecutive hours. At the urging of a friend, she takes a long overdue vacation, a cross-country trip on a restored steam train, in hopes that time away from the pressures of her job will solve her problems.
At 39, Willow Lord is a recent college graduate, a social worker in desperate need of a job. Divorced for nine years, she's lived in poverty, saving coins to buy cat food. Next month, the first payments on her student loans are due. She has no time for a vacation, but when her friend, a friend who won't take no for an answer insists she sends out resumes and boards The Frisco Express-New York City to California.
As girls, they met and fell in love. Twenty-six years later, they're reunited on The Frisco Express, and love is given a second chance.