Rachel, a spirited young girl, has to choose between Francis Breton, her difficult cousin who has been disowned by the family, and Roddy Seddon, a conventional and rather boring but wealthy young man. She chooses Roddy but the marriage begins to collapse, and she meets Francis again. Looming over them is the spectre of the Duchess, Rachel's grandmother, who rules the family and favours Roddy. Also in the mix is Lizzie Rand, secretary to Aunt Adela, who lives in the same house as Breton. Set against the world of high society in London at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the book follows the characters as their lives are profoundly altered following a serious accident to one of them.
