Among the myriad challenges that face women of the 1800's, Lady Helena must navigate them all; having swiftly ascended the ranks of social status from humble, working beginnings, she longs for simpler times when faced with the razor's edge that is Victorian High Society. Serious, practical, and perhaps a bit odd, she would rather immerse herself in her books and what research notes she might sneak from her late father, rather than waste time twirling around ballrooms or squabbling with other ladies for the attention of a gentleman.

But her short-sighted brothers, pleasure-obsessed and unwilling to support a spinster sister, urge her to marry quickly, upending the quiet, private existence she prefers.  Under Threat of losing her family's support, Helena must now find a husband to keep her, but with few friends and no suitors, and an already harsh label of nouveau riche outsider, her chances to save herself from an ungraceful slide back into squalor, seem slim to nothing at three and twenty.