The story describes the romantic relationship between Annis Wychwood, a wealthy spinster, and Oliver Carleton, a rake who cares little for society's opinion of him. The two meet while jointly supervising Carleton's ward, Lucilla. Heyer granted her heroine a level of independence that was rare in Regency times and rare for Heyer's novels. Although the hero's personality is similar to that of many of Heyer's other heroes, in a departure from romance novel convention he experienced little personal growth in the novel; his primary change was to accept that he would like to have a wife.