Miss Emily Bolton and David Hadden, the Duke of Woolhampsted, meet by chance happening. Even though initially feeling insulted by the Duke, some subsequent events force Emily to take a second look at her feelings for David Hadden. She is a free spirit, but her father has been killed in the Napoleonic War, and her family has fallen on hard times. He is the heir to a large fortune, but he is in the military, fighting as an army Colonel for England under General Wellington. When he gets severely wounded and is captured by a blackmailer in France, Emily manages to accompany her French friend and former governess to make an attempt to rescue the Duke. But a string of strange schemes and happenings put the mission into jeopardy, leaving the question, how cam Emily and the Duke ever get together again? And what will happen to the villains and the good people that surround this love story?