John Trewbridge is destined to spend the rest of his life in the British Army. Serena ripped the heart out of him when she told him he was "only" a second son and therefore not worthy of her. Home on leave he discovers she is about to marry his older brother, Spencer, who will inherit the marquessate. His older brother - the one who made his childhood a misery and whose morals are worse than those of an alley cat.
On a raw winter's day John meets Marguerite Ninian. Crippled from birth she hides from the world and in spite of an inauspicious beginning they feel their way towards a tentative relationship. Then Spencer implodes and smashes the Trewbridge family apart.