David Fleming, Hart Mackenzie's right-hand man, seeks refuge with his vicar friend in Shropshire, only to find that the vicar's beautiful niece, Sophie, is seeking refuge as well. Tongues are wagging all over London about Sophie, and she finds that the only gentleman sympathetic to her plight is the reprobate David.

David and Sophie match wits as they help her uncle dig up the countryside searching for a villa from Roman Britain, and David decides to use his conniving ways to fix all Sophie's problems. It's the least he can do for the woman who has woken him out of the stupor in which he's been living.