The plan of Simon Traherne, Earl of Blade, is ideal: present himself as an ardent and poetic romantic, fall madly in love with the twenty-four-year-old old maid Emily Faringdon, marry her and coldly use her dowry and feelings to take revenge on her family, who ruined when -his father and deprived him of the family estate. However, the ruthless avenger does not know Emily well - an intelligent, practical and far from naive person who successfully manages all family financial affairs. The Count undoubtedly touched her heart, but her love for him does not at all prevent Emily from playing her own game, in which Simon is destined to become not the hunter, but the prey...