When her father dies of a fever in the Gulf of Guinea, Rebecca Miller is left orphaned heiress to the bankrupt Somerville estate. Which proves a magnet - for no discernible reason - to the notorious, ageing rake, the Earl of Marshwood, who after the briefest and most arid courtship, acquires her as his betrothed. Alone and friendless, the penniless eighteen-year-old must battle with all the wit, wiles and courage she possesses to wrest control of her destiny back into her own hands, in a world where she as a woman is a mere chattle of her husband's. But she's not alone. Raised in a household which allowed her a freedom and independence at odds with the prevailing social views on girlhood, Rebecca discovers those who will help, and will stand by her in her many moments of need as the secrets of the Somerville inheritance gradually come to light.