Lucy Fooshee has just married Bob Bybee, the second-richest farmer in the county if you don't count the Winklejohns -- and who'd want a name like Winklejohn, anyway? Add her enviable hubby to the local beauty queen titles she's won on account of her slim figure, full lips, and all-around good looks, and Lucy's the most envied young woman in Palmyra, Illinois. The most admired by men, too. Funny thing, though: now that she's married, no one even seems to notice anymore, and Lucy's feeling irritable. So when Billy Lee -- a stranger with no prospects -- comes to town and sees her in a whole new way, he upsets Lucy's applecart. Sure, she's got everything anyone in Palmyra could want, but maybe that's just not enough.

With her striking humor and picture-perfect observations about life in a small town, Alison Clement tells the hilarious, lusty, and ultimately touching story of a fiercely independent woman trapped in the body of a small-town beauty queen.