Rose's future is thrown into chaos when her marriage to her childhood friend doesn't eventuate. Shamed by her rejection, Rose is bundled off to the country by her parents, but Rose's future looks brighter after an attack by brigands. Rose and the brigand, Lord Nicholas Wolfe, agree on a marriage of convenience, which her mother does not welcome. Despite the legality of the union, Rose's parents and close friends harass and bully Rose because she refuses to wait for her estranged fiance to return from the war.
As she and her new husband work to rectify years of neglect and penny-pinching at their estate, Rose's parents continue to press their case for her marriage to Oliver Montgomery. When Rose and Wolfe travel to London for the season, the pressure to end her marriage to Lord Wolfe increases. Oliver's reappearance and the machinations of Wolfe's former love cause a rift, and when Rose quits the city to return to the country estate, her parents swoop.
Her kidnapping results in a frantic trip to Gretna Green, but things go horribly wrong for the Farnsworth's plans to marry a now divorced Rose to their preferred suitor. As Rose struggles with the results of her kidnapping, Wolfe fights for life after surviving an attack orchestrated by those who wish Rose to bend to their will.
Can Rose and Wolfe survive the blocks her parents erected, or will their union be forever severed?