To escape gossip in London due to a broken engagement and a stolen diamond, heiress Abigail Ritchie changes her name to Miss Smith, and leases a house in the country. Along with her chaperone—a hypochondriac accompanied by a full-time nurse—the trio escape to Hertfordshire. But once there they encounter mayhem, mishap, rustic fortune hunters, and a dangerously seductive but deeply indebted lord of the manor, Cary Wayborn.