故事发生在美国内战时期，主人公是两名护士志愿者——来自新英格兰地区并支持废奴主义的Mary Phinney和支持南方联盟国的南方佳丽Emma Green。Green家族在弗吉尼亚州的亚历山大市经营豪华酒店生意，北方联邦军1862年占领这座城市后，他们的酒店被改造成专门治疗战争伤员的「大厦之屋医院」（Mansion House Hospital）。Mary Phinney是个寡妇，最近刚刚来到「大厦之屋医院」工作。医院雇佣的外科医生Jedediah Foster，他从小生长在一个南方权贵家庭中，父亲是马里兰州的大地主，家中有许多黑奴。Green家族的掌门人James Green, Sr.，他很难在一座「敌人占领」的城市里维持家族生意。Emma Green是「大厦之屋医院」的一名护士志愿者。Alfred Summers医生是「大厦之屋医院」的外科主任。他爬上这个职位完全因为他的年纪忽悠了所有人，并非因为他有真材实料。守旧的军医Byron Hale，一切都循规蹈矩。他一方面密切监视护士们的一举一动，另一方面却与Anne Reading护士保持着密切的关系。黑人工人Samuel Diggs，他隐藏了一个秘密：他从一个年轻的男仆那里学会了医术。美丽的Aurelia Johnson，是医院里的洗衣女工，她试图忘掉自己的过去。

两位妓女被赶出城镇后，遇到了一个身受重伤的赏金猎人。经过护理，她们决定帮助他追踪无情残忍的杀手基拉·格莱姆斯，并分得赏金一半。

When New York architect Tate Donovan arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home, he is hoping to make a fresh start. Recently discharged from an upscale psychiatric facility where he was treated for acute depression, he is still wrestling with the pain of losing his beloved sister. Her deathbed revelation—that she can see spirits who are still tethered to the living world, a gift that runs in their family—sits uneasily with Tate, who struggles to believe in more than what reason can explain. But when he takes up residence at a historic bed-and-breakfast on the Cape, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Wren who will challenge every assumption he has about his logical and controlled world.