Lady Dorothea Witherspoon is desperate. After her mother died, her heartbroken father squandered the family fortune on gambling, leaving Dorothea destitute. As a last resort, she visits a distant cousin to ask for ten thousand pounds so she can avoid debtor''s prison. Lord Stratford Brunswich is taken by Lady Witherspoon''s beauty and nature, but it''s Lord Hopewell-Smithers who presents himself as Dorothea''s knight in shining armor when he offers to pay her debt in full. Only Dorothea doesn''t know that his proposal comes at a great price. Stratford knows of the treacherous game Smithers is playing, but can he expose Smithers and rescue Dorothea, the woman he has grown to love, before it''s too late?