Cheerful Gunnilde Payne is hiding a bruised heart behind her bright smile. When her friend invites her to spend some time away from her provincial home, she jumps at the chance.

All is going well, until Gunnilde overhears herself rudely dismissed by two knights, as "nice, and eminently forgettable." Poor Gunnilde is mortified.
Then, she decides to take her future in her hands and seize the chances life puts before her. She will go to the royal court in Aphrany. She will attract the attention of the Queen and become one of her ladies-in-waiting!

Little does Gunnilde know that at court she will attract the attention of someone else entirely... Someone disapproving, someone who thinks she is a flaunting, flirtatious creature but certainly not forgettable. No, not remotely forgettable.

And then, the Queen insists that Gunnilde marry him.