All that the orphaned Vanessa Bascombe lacks in her life is love. Heiress to a vast fortune, and convinced that her friends and relations are more enamoured of her money than herself, she runs away to London disguised as a boy in her cousin’s breeches.
On the road she meets a charming rake, Jerome Harcourt, and falls in love with him after a snowstorm forces them to spend the night in a lonely inn. To save his estate from ruin it is imperative for Jerome to marry a rich woman. So how can Vanessa possibly persuade him to marry her when he has no idea that his delightful new friend is an heiress? Especially when he is already in hot pursuit of the rich — and — lovely Miss Mathilda Randolph ...