Stella Nickell was settled into a comfortable life with her husband, Bruce. They lived together in a trailer on a few acres with a view of Washington's Mt. Rainer. But Stella wanted more. Then, in June of 1986, Bruce dropped dead on the deck of the trailer. Doctors said it was emphysema; Stella swore it was the Excedrin he'd taken just moments before his collapse.

Gail Bennett had led a life of hard choices. Raised on a Texas farm, she had spent her childhood taking care of her siblings. When she left home, she began a string of bad marriages. By 1990, she was filing for her third divorce. With one daughter grown, and a son living with her second ex-husband, Gail was at a crossroads in her life. That's when ex-husband number three, Tony, convinced her to come back to him.