Lucien Grey, Viscount Ware, returns to London from his family's country estate to discover his friend and fellow spy Andrew Sherbourne is a fugitive from a charge of murder.

And Sherry is hiding in Lucien's townhouse with Fanny, a small child of two or three. The mother--and murder victim--abandoned the child on Sherry's doorstep, claiming Fanny was his daughter and needed protection from a Frenchman chasing them.

An over-zealous Bow Street Runner is convinced Sherry is guilty of the murder, and no one is looking for the real killer-no one except Lucien-but evidence and potential suspects are sparse.

Lady Anne Ashburn was called home from London to her invalid mother's bedside two months ago. She is resigned to never seeing Lord Ware again, at least not in the near future, and her monotonous days are relieved by her childhood sweetheart Daniel, the man everyone has always assumed she would marry.

Then the letter comes from Lord Ware, asking for her help in investigating a local family. She sets out with determination and in defiance of society's expectations to find the evidence Lord Ware needs to expose the truth and set his friend free.