Courting Caitlin

Dylan Tremaine, a newly arrived miner from Wales, bets the local tavern owner that he can get Caitlin Pearce, the uptight local schoolmarm to kiss him in full view of anyone who cares to watch in the town of Mineral Point Wisconsin. If he wins the wager he’ll finally have enough money to head west to the gold fields of California. But when the handsome Welsh miner shows up pretending to want lessons in reading and arithmetic, Caitlin sees her opportunity to get what she’s wanted for years — the right to live by herself instead of with her nosy family. She proposes that Dylan pretend to court and marry her and then abandon her by leaving town and later having word sent that he has died. He can get on with life in California while she plays the role of the grieving widow — they’ll each get what they want. But smart as she is Caitlin Pearce is completely unschooled when it comes to managing matters of the heart. Surely a teacher should be able to figure out that one smitten young man plus one suddenly uncertain spinster plus a beautiful starry night is bound to add up to trouble.