Sylas Rutledge, new owner of the Northeast Line Railroad, invests everything he has into this venture—mostly to clear his father's name. The one man who holds the key to his success is General William Giles Harding of Nashville's Belle Meade Plantation. But Harding is champagne and thoroughbreds, and Sy Rutledge is beer and bullocks.

When Sy meets Alexandra Jamison, he quickly decides she is his key to navigating Nashville society. But he soon discovers that the very train accident his father is blamed for causing is what killed Alexandra's fiancé and shattered her world.

Spurning an arranged marriage, Alexandra instead pursues her passion for teaching at Fisk University, the first freedmen's university in the United States. But family and Nashville society do not approve, and she finds herself cast out from both. Through connections with the Harding family, Alexandra and Sy become unlikely allies.

Set against the real history of Nashville's Belle Meade Plantation and the original Fisk University Jubilee Singers ensemble, To Wager Her Heart is a powerful love story about seeking justice and restoring honor at a time when both were tenuous and hard-won.