On his return after six years' fighting with Wellington, Colonel Romney Wood (also known as Lord Heywood) is horrified at the state of the country he left behind –where starving agricultural labourers are being hanged, food shops are bare and Luddites lay waste to the new agricultural machines. Worse still, his own estate is almost bankrupt and he has to find something to sell to save it – and his loyal staff. Scouring the Manor House for anything of value he stumbles across something he's soon to prize beyond price – a beautiful, fawn-like young girl with deep blue eyes in a white diaphanous nightgown. She is an interloper – a runaway, hiding from her wicked uncle, who is forcing her to marry a man she despises. Her name is Lalita. But more than that she will not tell. Yet slowly, she reveals more of herself to him – and with each revelation the bond between grows. And in spite of himself, Lord Heywood is falling in love. They are two people with nothing left to lose, and maybe Love to win.