Fitzwilliam Darcy has had enough—enough of the ton and their speculations, enough of matchmaking mamas and their eager daughters, and enough of his family’s expectations that he will eventually marry his cousin Anne. Craving solitude and peace after discovering his sister with George Wickham in Ramsgate, he accepts an invitation to visit Netherfield Park from his friend Charles Bingley and travels to Hertfordshire, where he hopes Georgiana will recover from her disappointment in relative privacy.

Just as Mr. Darcy finally decides to propose to the enticing Miss Elizabeth Bennet, she is summoned to Falmouth, to meet a relation she never knew she had. Thus, the ill-starred Hunsford proposal is avoided - but before he could even begin to understand his luck, adverse circumstances hasten to conspire against him, and Fitzwilliam Darcy is compelled to follow the woman he loves to the far reaches of Cornwall, into a world of deceit and peril, where few - if any - are what they seem to be...

For Elizabeth Bennet, Charlotte is the friend who is—annoyingly—always right. Colonel Fitzwilliam is the mischievous brother she never had. And if their convictions that Mr. Darcy is in love with her are correct, he could be the lover she’s always wanted. There’s only one problem—he tried to ruin her favorite sister’s life, and she made an absolute fool of herself in front of him. Can lasting happiness come out of such a beginning? And can a man die from chasing a woman too quick to be caught? Darcy is about to find out.

A secret encounter at Oakham Mount, an unexpected and unknown witness, a fight that unearths dark revelations—all are instrumental in changing Elizabeth Bennet’s beliefs, born from pride and tainted by prejudice, one cold November morning.

When secrets are revealed and a family agenda works against him, can Fitzwilliam Darcy recover his damaged spirits and find happiness? Following his disastrous proposal to Elizabeth Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcy returns to London from Kent, broken-hearted and dejected. One bright spot penetrates his sea of despair: His sister, Georgiana, has finally recovered her spirits from the grievous events at Ramsgate the previous summer. She has forged a new friendship with Miss Hester Drake, a lady who appears to be an ideal friend.