A spoilt, rich child with a financier father and an immaculate pedigree, Diana's a glamorous and beautiful young 'girl about town' with an enviable social life. That means she has her pick of London's most eligible bachelors – including handsome 'ladies man' Hugo, Lord Dalk, who pursues her relentlessly, as much for her social standing as for her beauty.
But although Hugo 'ticks all the boxes', something in Diana tells her she deserves more in a man.
So when friends Loelia and Jack Standish introduce her to an altogether different kind of man – their philosopher friend Barry Dunbar, 'one of the greatest young intellects in Europe' she's intrigued. But when she meets him, she hates him. He's dismissive of her trivial lifestyle and unimpressed by her beauty.
Tragically, Diana's world is turned upside down when her father is found dead by his own hand because his financial empire has crashed, taking with it many companies and countless investors' precious 'nest eggs'.
Alone, penniless and cast out by the society she loves, Diana runs away from it all, including Hugo, and finds herself work as a teashop waitress, where she falls ill with pneumonia. Only now does she realise she's in love with Barry Dunbar, only to learn that on his oriental travels, he has become a Buddhist monk. Has she discovered the love of her life just days too late?