After years spent abroad, Lord David Helford has returned to England and is immediately chided by his aunt that it is past time for him to choose a wife. Thwarted in love when he was a young man, he resolves that he only needs a respectable wife, and soon settles on the haughty Lady Lucinda as a worthy candidate. On a visit to his country estate however he is taken by surprise by the sudden emotions he experiences when he meets the enchanting Sophie Marsden, a tenant on his property where she is raising her orphaned nephew Kit. Sophie meanwhile, faced with this dashing nobleman, is finding it increasingly hard to stay true to her plan to remain single and unattached until Kit reaches his majority.