Judith Jardine's one chance at a brilliant match is doomed from the start when she unjustly incurs the disapproval of the
ton
's most sought-after gentleman. Under a gloomy cloud of failure, Judith is exiled to a seaside cottage to spend the summer helping her sister-and living a life far below the one she experienced for a season. When she discovers the man responsible for her misfortune unconscious on the beach, she heeds her better impulses and has him brought to the cottage to be seen to. But James Carlisle has no recollection of who he is, what happened to him, or how he has wronged her, and Judith sees the opportunity to teach him a valuable lesson-unless the deception and her feelings get the best of her first.