Eve Winterley is the daughter of the rich and influential Viscount Farense from her first marriage. As a baby, she was abandoned by her flighty mother Pamela, who died in an accident fifteen years ago. However, the notoriety of the dissolute Pamela follows Eve on her heels, threatening to ruin her reputation in the event of the slightest mistake. Mr. Carter, whom Eve accidentally meets at a relative's house, makes a strange impression on the girl with his handsome appearance, arrogance and traces of wounds received in the Battle of Waterloo. He falls in love irrevocably. It soon becomes clear that the young people are connected not only by mutual attraction, but also by a shameful secret: Carter is the son of Pamela’s lover, Lord Hancourt. Trials and misunderstandings haunt the couple until the families decide to stop being hostage to the past and their own prejudices. Independently of each other, the lovers set off on a journey: he to her, she to him.