When a knee injury forces Mari Coleman's mid-semester exit from college, her consolation is reuniting with her boyfriend, Will. Crushed to learn that her dream job at New Hampton's Sunlight Women's Center went to an old rival, Mari takes a shift at the Taiton Coffee Break. Then, while visiting her recuperating grandfather in the nursing home, Mari offers to watch a former neighbor's daughter after school. Pleased to be back in her old neighborhood, Mari unexpectedly attracts a crowd of children for after school kickball. But then a startling discovery in the field reveals illegal activity occurring right under their noses. As Mari seeks to determine who might be responsible, she discovers that one of her kickball kids and his mother may be in peril. Before long Mari finds her heart drawn to help an influx of hurting women and children in her life who could benefit from the Sunlight Center's care, yet she cannot bear to have her rival help them. Challenged by Taiton professor, Dr. Grant, and with the support of her new friend, Leah DeSoto, Mari begins to face her battle with jealousy. While the threat of danger grows in the neighborhood, a dilemma arises when Mari is torn between following her renewed spiritual convictions and her budding feelings for her employer.
