Melly Pettifer has been betrothed to marry Dominic Wolfe, of Wolfestone Castle. Melly has no choice in the matter. Documents had been signed and money exchanged years before. It was a legal and binding contract. In a few short weeks Melly would be married to a man she had never met. Melly had been nine years old and Dominic sixteen when the contracts were signed. Melly doesn't want to marry Dominic and he doesn't want to marry her.

Grace Merridew is Melly's best friend and agrees to do what she can to help Melly in her troubling situation. Disguised as Melly's hired companion, Grace travels with Melly to Wolfestone Castle to meet Melly's soon-to-be husband Dominic Wolfe. Unless Grace can help her, Melly is doomed to a loveless, childless marriage to a man who doesn't want her.

Unless Dominic can find a loop-hole in this very binding contract, he will be forced to marry Melly in order to inherit his family's estate, an estate that has been in his family for six-hundred years. Time is running out and in a few short days the wedding will take place. It will be a "white wedding" - a wedding in name only, with Melly being abandoned following her wedding, with no hope of ever having an heir. This plan becomes even more complicted when Dominic falls in love, not with Melly, but with Grace.

Will Dominic be able to find a way to marry the woman he loves or will he have to marry a woman he doesn't love to keep his family estate?