In 1878 the O'Leary's are amongst the many Irish families struggling to find the rent for their farms. Hot-headed Rory O'Leary decides to take the advice of the Land League and withholds payment. Convinced they'll be evicted, his 17-year-old sister Abby visits their English landlord, Sir George, hoping to persuade him to give them more time to pay - only to fall into the clutches of his son Randolph, who swiftly seduces then discards her...Ashamed, but ever resourceful, Abby accepts the post of girl-groom at the wealthy Thorpe household to boost her family's income. But a miscarriage causes her to lose her job. Rory is incensed, attacks Randolph and is imprisoned for attempted murder. Her reputation in tatters, Abby has no option but to flee Ireland for London, where nobody knows her...It is Nicholas Darke who gives her the fresh start she needs. A man about town with an invalid wife, he's looking for a mistress to keep. He sets Abby up in the fashionable St John's Wood area, gives her elocution lessons and introduces her to the London social scene as respectable widow Mrs Hester Moncrieffe. But despite her beautiful home, expensive clothes and high society friends, Abby knows she will never find true happiness until she is more than a mistress to Nick - and until Randolph Pelham, the man who tore her family apart, is brought to justice...