Lady Katherine Helleston, a spirited red-haired widow, is disgusted by her Trustee, who is mismanaging her estates, and alarmed by her niece, who dislikes anything safe or respectable. The solution to both is a husband - who will free her from her Trustee, and protect her ward Miss Beecham from rakes and scoundrels. She chooses an old playfellow from her past, but Jonathan, Lord Rotherham, is not so simple a playfellow any more, and the latest rake and scoundrel is not quite what he seems...