Time is running out for twenty-five-year-old Lady Margaret Underwood. Desperate to retain the independence that her considerable fortune affords her, she accepts the proposal of Viscount Charles Isham. But after a few hours in his stultifying company, she does what any woman would do: She flees.

A snowstorm and a carriage mishap lead to rescue by a seductive stranger. Soon Meg is ensconced in the Yorkshire estate of Sir Geoffrey Carrier, a soldier harboring a painful secret. And there's more stormy weather ahead for a man sworn to remain single and a woman who refuses to be married off as they discover the perils and pleasures of falling in love.