A fine country house set in rolling acres, a handsome young master and his beautiful sweetheart. A timeless, idyllic English scene. Yet something is wrong with this perfect picture. With all its pleasing vistas, Frank Gresham’s vast estate is a landscape of debt, every last piece mortgaged by a feckless father. And the only birthright of Mary Thorne, the beloved niece of the village’s respected doctor, is the stigma of illegitimacy.