Abigail and the other widows are shocked and saddened when they are notified by The Pacific Northwest Mining Company that will be evicted from their company-owned homes to make room for new miner recruits. Elizabeth is desperate to help the women, while Abigail is enraged, and gathers the widows to find a solution. Jack encourages Elizabeth to find a legal loophole, and she enlists the help of her concerned students to research their options. Meanwhile, taking a different approach, Abigail leads the widows into Henry Gowen’s office dressed in miner’s gear, explaining they will work in the mines if it means being able to stay in Coal Valley, the only home they’ve ever known.
Mr. Gowen reluctantly agrees to allow the widows of Coal Valley to work the mine, telling them they must clear the rubble from the mine by the eviction deadline in order be allowed to stay in their homes. After days of struggling in the mines, the hopeless widows are about to give up, but when Elizabeth realizes just how much Coal Valley means to her students and their families, she listens to advice from Jack and ultimately decides to risk losing everything to help the town she has come to love.
