After the death of her parents, Marianne suffers at the hands of her tyrant stepbrother, her new guardian. If she stays, she will lose her innocence and her life to him, so she decides to flee to London and soon ends up working as a governess for the daughter of a widow in mourning in the countryside. As Marian settles in at the manor, she's increasingly attracted to the new earl, Ash, who is taking over the estate. But then she learns that he is a friend of her stepbrother...