Veteran governess Laura Grey joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling adventures in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte's minister of police. At first the job is as lively as Latin, but Laura begins to notice Jaouen's increasingly strange behaviour. As Laura edges closer to her employer, she is surprised to learn that they have much in common. And Jaouen finds he has hired more than he bargained for...