After the death of her father, Serena Carlow discovers that her former fiancé, the Marquis of Rotherham, has been appointed trustee of her fortune. Determined to escape his control, she moves with her widowed stepmother to Bath and renews her acquaintance with Hector Kirkby, the gentle man she loved in youth.
Rotherham is meanwhile engaged to the much younger Emily Laleham, and the four become trapped in a web of pride, jealousy and mistaken judgement. The conventions of Bath society provide the setting for a romance in which strong personalities must distinguish affection from habit and independence from defiance.