The old Rainwood family order changes with the funeral of Grandmother Mirabel Rainwood in her ninety-sixth year. But for young Emma the future is all before her when she comes down from Northumberland to run a riding school in Sussex with her friend Lucy.
But the girls' exciting career plans are thwarted at the outset by Lucy's brother Philip, and the course of true love does not run smoothly either for Emma when she at last has to accept that the urbane and elusive Nick Barbury does not return her feelings.
It is Nick, however, who finds her a job with the elderly wrier Jessica Arlingham, and even the fact that the overbearing Philip is Miss Arlingham's favourite godson cannot wholly destroy a growing job satisfaction.
Emma learns the hard way that her impulsive nature can cause both hurt and misjudgement. But when she stops rushing headlong at the world she finds real love from a surprising direction, as well as a worthwhile career.