Recap: Home is Where the Heart Is - Season 5 - Episode 3

Home is Where the Heart Is

Elizabeth is at the mercantile shopping for school supplies when Florence dashes in and frantically implores her to come outside. When Elizabeth does, she sees a group of Mounties on horseback riding through town. She immediately starts shouting Jack's name. When she doesn't see him, she follows the dea of red coats into the saloon where one of the Mounties tells her they secured the Northern territories but suffered losses. With tears in her eyes she walks outside. As she steps out of the saloon, another group of Mounties rides in to town. In the distance Elizabeth spots a familiar face. Unable to contain her joy, she runs toward him. Jack rides toward her and dismounts his horse as Elizabeth finaly reaches the arms of her beloved. The two lovers embrace and share a tender kiss.

Jack stops by the café to reunite with his friends in Hope Valley. Elizabeth explains that Florence has agreed to teach the children in the morning, so the love birds can make up for lost time. Rosemary returns to the dress shop and is surprised when her childhood best friend, Sophia, waltzes in. The two celebrate with a giant hug.

Jack tells Elizabeth that he is ready to get married and settle down with Elizabeth for good. Elizabeth begins to ask what life was like in the Northern territory, and Jack wants to quickly change the subject. He prefers to live in the present, with her.

Earlier in the day, the bank informed Lee that they we going to need more time to deliver the funds for Lee to pay his workers. Lee delivers the bad news to his men and promises them that the payroll will be there by end of the week. He even offers to use his own saving to pay anyone who needs cash.

Jack takes Elizabeth to the empty property he purchased in Hope Valley. He also brings with him blueprints of the house he wants to build for their future family. Elizabeth falls in love with all of Jack's ideas, but also reminds him he should want to go home and rest, first.

Elizabeth returns to the school, where she hands out the results of the students' grammar quizzes. Harper is dismayed that he got a "D" and Elizabeth agrees to meet with him after class to make sure he gets a better grasp on the next quiz. Jack surprises the students, where he announces that his deployment is done. The kids erupt in a cheer. Then he presents a surprise: a mimeograph machine! Jack explains that this machine is used to print newspapers, and with the local paper getting a new one, they donated their old one to the school. Elizabeth tells the class that they will use the mimeograph to make their own school newsletter.

Rosemary catches up with Sophia over tea. Rosemary describes her friend as a trailblazer for being a female architect in New York City, but Sophia comes clean. She reveals that out of nine proposals she made, she has gotten zero work. Rosemary advises her friend to be patient, but in the meantime, she will make sure Sophia will have a fabulous time in Hope Valley.

Jack pays Bill a visit at the jailhouse. Bill tries to get Jack to open up about his time in battle, but Jack refuses, citing that it's is all behind him now. Bill says that when Jack is ready to talk, he will listen.

While at the mercantile, young student Hattie overhears the gossip about the saw mill not having the funds to pay their employees. Back at school, she asks Elizabeth if she can make this the front-page story of the school's newspaper. Elizabeth appreciates her student's drive but wants to steer away from town gossip. Elizabeth gathers all the students back to the classroom to find a romantic message written on her chalkboard from Jack, inviting her to have dinner at the site of their future home.

Lee, Rosemary and Sophia catch up over dinner. Rosemary reveals her plans to build her own theater and asks her best friend to help design a sketch for it. The three are interrupted by Carson who stops by the table to say hi. Lee invites Carson to join them and instantly the doctor and Sophia are smitten with one another. The night ends with Carson inviting Sophia on a picnic for the next day.

Henry pays a visit to Jenkins at the bank and wants to know why they can't make the saw mill's payroll. Jenkins says the main branch is just delayed getting their funds to Hope Valley, but Henry calls him out on his lie. Later on, Henry stops in to see Abigail, and says he has a hunch that the bank won't come through with the money. In fact, Henry advises Abigail to tell the people of Hope Valley to withdraw all their funds from the bank immediately because the bank is going under.

That evening, Elizabeth arrives at the empty property of Jack's only to find it lit up by dozens of lanterns. In the middle is a romantic table setting for two and Jack, who thanks her for accepting his invitation. He brings out a music box to play a song and the two share a dance in the moonlight.

The next morning, Jack goes to the saw mill to carry off the wood that he purchased for his house, and is surprised to see Lee only charging him half of what they agreed on. Jack argues the price, but Lee says it is the least he can do for a hometown hero. It's a title that Jack has a hard time accepting.

Abigail confronts Jenkins before he leaves town to ask him about the status of the bank. He admits that the bank made some poor investment decisions recently and they are struggling to earn their money back. He promises Abigail that he has a plan to get a short-term loan and then everything will be back to running as usual. Jenkins promises Abigail that he will return in the morning with good news and she says she won't do anything drastic with the town's money.

Elizabeth is handing the students their grades from their last quiz. She points out that Harper did well this time around, giving him an "A." What she doesn't know is that Hattie caught Harper snooping around Elizabeth's desk earlier, before the quiz was handed out, giving her suspicions that he was cheating.

On their date, Carson and Sophia discuss their career choices. Just as they begin to draw closer to one another, the clouds open up and a downpour happens! The two pack up and run to the closest roofed patio for shelter. After their date, Rosemary wants to know how it went. Sophia smiles and plays coy. Rosemary says she can tell Hope Valley has worked its magic on her best friend.

Jesse helps Jack unload the wood, and asks Jack for relationship advice. Jack tells him to start opening the lines of communication with Clara but also give her the time and space she needs.

Elizabeth finds the students reading their copy of the school's first edition of the paper. She immediately is taken aback when she sees the front-page story Hattie went with is about catching Harper cheating. She then finds a group of students shouting "cheater!" to Harper behind the school. He defends himself, saying that he wasn't cheating; he was only returning Elizabeth's study aid books she loaned him. Elizabeth backs Harper's story up but immediately wants to talk to Hattie alone. Elizabeth lets Hattie know that the reason Harper was in her classroom before class started was to return the study aids Elizabeth lent him, and to write her a thank you note. Hattie defends her story and says she was just looking for a good first issue for the paper. Hattie ends up writing an apology letter to Harper and reading it in front of the classroom. After reading her letter, Hattie personally apologizes to Harper for her story. Harper accepts her apology and her offer to be the school newspaper's co-editor.

After class, Elizabeth meets with Abigail and Rosemary to give them some big news: she and Jack are getting married in two weeks. She officially asks the two women if they will be her matrons of honor. Rosemary and Abigail both react with an astounding yes! Meanwhile, Jack asks Bill and Lee to officially be his best men, and they can't wait to plan the bachelor party.

Chaos erupts in the town center as the community of Hope Valley gathers around Jenkins' office. Jenkins has barricaded himself inside, as the townspeople want to know why the bank is closed. They no longer have access to their money. The people of Hope Valley demand that Abigail make a call as mayor on what to do.