Owing money, but with none incoming, the Reverend Edmund Jade has no choice but to give his consent for his daughter to marry the elderly Lord Horace Boxley.
Torn between love for her father and loyalty to herself, Evelyn is forced to make a life changing decision - can she accept his command and sign herself away for a life she knows she'll never want?
Evelyn isn't cattle to be sold and, bundling herself on board a stagecoach bound for London, she flees with no plan beyond escape. When the stagecoach axle collapses, killing the young Alice Grantham, Evelyn can't help but be shocked at how similar the girl looks to her. At how close she herself came to death.
When a fellow passenger mistakes her for Alice, however, and gives her the dead girl's reticule complete with an introductory letter for the post of lady's companion, the way forward is clear: she must become Alice, if she is to escape Evelyn's fate.