The fifth season of Virgin River introduces Kaia, Preacher’s new love interest.
However, Preacher soon realizes that there is a lot he does not know about Kaia’s life. Kandyse McClure plays Kaia.
After Vince is arrested, Preacher breaks up with Julia because he still has feelings for Paige and wishes to be with her.
However, Paige does not want to live in Virgin River anymore. She asks Preacher to leave the town with her, but he refuses.
Preacher is upset, but he is ready to move on and meet the love of his life. That is when he meets Kaia, a firefighter who starts liking him the moment they meet.
New beginnings
When Kaia is first introduced, she is with a pregnant woman who is going into labor. The woman wants Mel to be with her when she delivers her baby. However, Kaia is unable to take her to the clinic in time and has to deliver the baby herself.
With Mel and Cameron guiding her on the phone, Kaia manages to deliver the baby. She also performs CPR and saves the baby’s life. Kaia then meets Preacher, who has helped Hope make packaged meals for front-line workers putting out a forest wildfire.
Kaia and Preacher hit it off right away. Later, Kaia comes to the bar to meet Preacher, and the two of them sleep together. Kaia leaves the next morning, but Preacher likes her so much that he wants to meet her again. With time, the two of them grow close.
The wildfire reaches Virgin River, and Preacher worries about Kaia. Hope advises him to let Kaia know about his feelings, and Preacher leaves her a message, telling her that he is thinking about her. However, he gets disappointed when he finds out that Kaia has been keeping something from him.
Learning to forgive and trust each other
Preacher is told that a firefighter was injured and brought to Doc’s clinic. To his relief, it was not Kaia. It turns out that Kaia is married, and it was her husband, Jay, who got injured.
After the incident, Preacher does not respond to any of Kaia’s text messages and calls. When she confronts him about it, he tells her that he knows about her being married. Kaia then reveals that she is divorcing her husband, and that is why she did not tell Preacher about him.
Preacher continues to be angry with Kaia for some time, but he eventually realizes that Kaia could not have told him everything about her personal life, as they have not known each other for that long.
He forgives Kaia and starts dating her. Kaia opens up to Preacher and tells him that all the men in her life expect her to walk behind them. Being a firefighter was her dream, and her husband wanted her to give that up to start a family, which led to their divorce.
Furthermore, he claimed that Kaia was a woman and she was too fragile to lead a team when they were both competing for a promotion. Jay’s claim as well as his belittling remarks led to him getting the promotion over Kaia.
While Kaia is ready to move on with Preacher, Jay still wants to be with her. He keeps trying to make Preacher insecure by telling him that Kaia will always work with him. He also asks Kaia to lead the team in Alaska, as he cannot do that because of his injury.
Surprisingly, Kaia rejects the offer to stay in Virgin River with Preacher. Meanwhile, the firefighters discover a body buried in the woods. It could be Wes’s body that Preacher had hidden to save Paige. Now, it is Preacher who might have to keep secrets from Kaia.
