Lila Covington has a goal: independence. With a plan to escape the restrictions of 1820s London society and go to Paris to live as a writer, she seeks financial advice from Tristan Wyndam, a barrister her late father mentored. When he suggests that he escort her to France, she sees advantages for both her budget and her safety. The impropriety of the plan doesn't concern her. Raised with a male's education, she resents having a female's lack of freedom. She sees no reason a grown woman must be chaperoned.

An honorable man with political aspirations, Tristan is concerned with propriety but he can hardly let his mentor's daughter risk traveling alone. During their journey together, attraction grows between them, multiplying their indiscretions, and in Paris her social circle draws them even deeper into recklessness...and love.