Meagan Sayers, rebellious Southern beauty, was a runaway. The newly-orphaned daughter of Virginian aristocracy, connected to Madison, Jefferson and General Washington himself, arrived in bustling Philadelphia disguised as a lady's maid. Irresistibly drawn to dazzling young Lion Hampshire, pride demanded she keep her secret as he arranged a loveless marriage to advance his political career. As passion drew them together, bitter intrigue drove them apart. In an atmosphere of breathless excitement on the eve of the First Inauguration, they were forced to risk their happiness, their future, their lives before they could answer the fiery yearnings of their wild, impulsive hearts.