Crippled by a childhood disease, Sir Brandley Hilliard hardly fits the image of the son of a baronet. Having suffered scorn and rejection most of his life, he retreats from society and shows signs of becoming an academic recluse. Then he meets Elinor, a beautiful, intelligent book-lover who sees the gifted man inside the crippled body. But the wealthy debonair Marquess of Widkham also has designs on Elinor, and Brandley is inexperienced in the risky world of relationships . . .