Haughty Lady Helen Radney is one of Regency London's most beautiful women and the daughter of a duke, but her sharp tongue has frightened away most of her suitors. When her father gambles away his fortune, the duke's only chance for recouping his losses lies in marrying off Lady Helen to any man wealthy enough to take a bride with nothing to recommend her but a lovely face and an eight-hundred-year-old pedigree.

Enter Mr. Ethan Brundy, once an illegitimate workhouse orphan, now owner of a Lancashire cotton mill and one of England's richest men. When he glimpses Lady Helen at Covent Garden Theatre, he is instantly smitten and vows to marry her.

But this commonest of commoners will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to win the heart of his aristocratic bride...