Corinna Knolls arrives in London after a year of mourning her much loved mother and immediately falls in love with Edward Fitzroy, the new Marquis of Lanchester. The marquis admires the lovely but na?ve young girl, though he has no wish to marry her ? or any woman. Swept away on a tide of passion one night, Corinna allows the marquis to seduce her, but she soon regrets her foolishness when she realizes she is with child. She contemplates taking her own life, but instead confesses her situation to her father who then forces her to marry the vile Sir Keith Miles. Too late, Corinna realizes that she ought to have kept her secret at all costs, for her husband is a brute who abuses her both mentally and physically. Corinna is saved from her life of misery only when Sir Keith dies, and, armed with a new name and a confidence that was never hers as a young girl, Corinna returns to London dreaming of revenge against the man who brought about her downfall. But she has reckoned without the devastating charm of a rake who lives life on the edge, his reckless manner masking a very different man. Can she learn to put the bitterness of the past behind her? Or will a hidden menace snatch away her happiness a second time?