Hiding her face under a mask, Allegra Valenti appears at the most magnificent ball in Venice. A boring arranged marriage awaits her, and she wants to escape from unpleasant thoughts at least for a while. But the passionate embrace of a stranger breaks the usual course of her life, and she finds herself at the center of a scandal. The sullen Spanish Count Christian Acosta cannot believe that the masked nymph who robbed him of his composure at the ball is his best friend's sister, a spoiled heiress whom he has always treated with contempt. And now, in order to provide the Acosta family with an heir, Christian will have to put a wedding ring on her finger...