Sir John Danesfield, captivated by his illegitimate daughter's spirit, takes her to Regency London to live with his mistress. At fifteen, Mavreen falls in love with the Vicomte Gerard de Valle, an impoverished French nobleman. Believing him lost to her, she enters a loveless marriage arranged by her father. When her husband dies she seeks Gerard across the Napoleonic war-ravaged wastes of Europe. It is finally to the snowy battlefields of Russia that Mavreen, passionate, headstrong, and courageous, goes in search of the man she loves.