When her mother is incapacitated, Lucilla Chambers reluctantly agrees to take her place and act as chaperone to her sister, the beautiful young widow, Lady Lairne. Her attempts to protect her sister bring Lucilla into conflict with the notorious Dominic Vanderley and soon she finds that it is her own honour that is threatened. She flees to the safety of her childhood home, but soon she is caught up in the hasty preparations for war. With Napoleon Bonaparte marching through France towards his fate, a shadow hangs over Europe, a shadow that will touch Lucilla’s young life with tragedy and suffering before she can find the happiness that she is seeking.