Miss Anne Starkie of Ponderfields, Bath, was wondering whether she loved her neighbour, Mr Christopher Boyd, enough to marry him. But then she meets the mysterious Mr Philippe Peverill, whose proud and haughty demeanour tantalises her curiosity. He has moved to nearby Hatherley Park, but why does he travel so frequently to Somerset? The village gossips speculate that he has a mistress there, but it is Anne who discovers the truth. This is an intriguing romance set in Somersetshire, Bath and France at the time of the Peninsular War.