Claudia Martin, owner and headmistress of a girls' school in Bath, is planning a journey to London to escort two of her charity girls to their new employment. She reluctantly accepts the escort of Joseph, Marquess of Attingsborough. She meets him again in London and becomes involved in the complexities of his life. She also meets someone from her long-ago past, and this confirmed spinster suddenly finds herself unexpectedly drawn to two men and having to face some difficult choices.