One Year in Jeopardy brings all the passions of the post-Civil War, rural Missourian to life. In a world of small land owners and itinerant farmers where wooden churches, old barns and quiet fields are still the order of the day, community is everything. Here, Dell Becker's world is thrown upside down after a brutal assault followed by a hasty marriage to the older Will Crane that does little to assuage the pain. When Will's son, Abe, falls in love with her, she finds herself drawn to the strong willed man. Dell and Abe must both come to grips with life in the Missouri country. As both learn to love, they come to wonder if there is more to life than plowing the earth in Jeopardy, Missouri. It seems as if everyone is trying to leave Oxefield County to begin a new life but the tumults of the Crane's neighbor's life of crime and the return of Dell's attacker, Dan Olsen, threaten to disrupt their lives permanently.