Ruined and abandoned by her betrothed, Lady Juliet has no choice but to take the stagecoach home to her family in Yorkshire. Fortunately, she is protected on the journey by a handsome and amusing self-styled “wastrel”.
Daniel Stewart—together with his enormous, unruly mongrel dog—is reluctantly answering a summons to his grandfather’s deathbed. But instead of the prodigal’s traditional fatted calf, he is presented with the miserly baron’s temper and a parcel of resentful relatives. Juliet faces recrimination and isolation in her own home. It isn’t surprising that Dan and Juliet seek solace in secret meetings to cheer each other up. Neither expects to fall in love. But is the unconventional Dan the solution to Juliet’s problems? Or just an added complication? For her powerful father seeks to rehabilitate her reputation through marriage, either to her faithless ex-betrothed or to the man who caused her ruin in the first place.