Elyza Leigh-young, impulsive, and pretty-borrows boy's clothes and runs away from her chaperone in London, an unsuccessful Season, and an offer of a dreary marriage. At a country inn she fortunately encounters Cleve Redmayne-her purse has been stolen. He pays her bill and gives her a seat in his travelling coach. Handsome and rich, he has just returned from India and is determined to marry the beautiful Corinna Mayfield, though he only saw her once two years ago. Cleve learns of Elyza's problems and that she knows Corinna, so he arranges her return to London and from there to Brighton, where he plans to establish himself.