When her father dies without leaving a male heir, Miss Lucy Stanton is forced to leave her ancestral home and live with her grandfather, Prince Virinsky. The late Sir Charles Stanton had written to his estranged father-in-law Prince Kuragin in Russia-entrusting him with the care of his daughter Lucy. The prospect of traveling to St. Petersburg-far away-was frightening and exciting. Though without a chaperone, Lucy did not fear for her virtue, one look at her escort, cousin Nikolai, revealed a nature as frozen as the Russian steppes.