Riverboats and Roses is set in the late 1800s in a Mississippi river town.
Martha Fairbanks must face the death of her beloved husband of twenty-four years. Riverboat Captain Anderson Fairbanks has been killed in an accident leaving Martha and her grown son Charles to grieve the loss of their husband and father. However, Martha has one additional burden, a secret so painful she dare not share it with anyone but a secret so heartrending that her soul could not abide it alone.
The grief-stricken widow could never resolve her pain, and the only one who could have helped now lays in a fresh grave. She has buried her husband. Could she ever bury the anguish which grips her heart?