Portia Haverall is orphaned and disinherited, and has nowhere to go. After a violent encounter at a country inn, she reluctantly agrees to become the companion of Lord Doncaster’s invalid mother. As she adjusts to her new circumstances, Lord Doncaster in the meantime is being encouraged by his mother to find a wife, yet he is repeatedly distracted by the enraging and stimulating encounters he keeps having with the maddeningly opinionated Portia.