Eustace Ede, the unhinged brother of Lady Magda Ware, is discovered drowned in the lake of her country house. While most assume it to have been suicide, a detective inspector's persistence finally leads to the arrest of Magda's husband, Sir Hubert Ware. The subsequent murder trial turns into a major society scandal, and the strain on Sir Hubert's mind may prove too much for him whether he is found innocent or guilty....

Devon, 1815. In the dying days of the Napoleonic Wars, a Danish-American lieutenant, Cecil Stark, is captured attempting to run supplies to the French. Imprisoned at Dartmoor, he and his fellow captives make a desperate escape attempt, in which Stark is shot. He is found by Grace Malherb, and the two fall in love while he convalesces on her family estate. But Grace's father is heavily indebted to the boorish Peter Norcot, whose price for forgiving the loan is Grace's hand in marriage....