Clever and independent, heiress Charlotte Baird is something of an anomaly among high society in nineteenth-century Britain. She finds potential suitors frightfully boring until she meets Bay Middleton, a handsome but penniless military captain. Unfortunately for Ms. Baird, Captain Middleton has also caught the eye of Empress Elizabeth of Austria, wife of Franz Joseph. As the charming Bay tries to balance his affection for two very different women, this deliciously entertaining historical romance/comedy builds to a satisfying conclusion.