Colin Kinross, seventh earl of Ashburnham, faces daunting problems: his castle is decaying, villainous clansmen are usurping his land and unmanageable debts keep mounting. But Joan "Sinjin" Sherbrooke, at 19 one of England's wealthiest women, has fallen in love with him and proposes a financially rewarding marriage. In order to escape Sinjin's two protective brothers, they elope to Colin's Scottish castle. There Colin presents Joan with two surly stepchildren and a pair of malicious sisters-in-law--it seems he has kept a previous marriage secret. Complications abound. An anonymous letter writer accuses Colin of throwing his first wife off a cliff--are murderous kinsmen seeking vengeance?