It's the winter of 1820 when Sabrina Fairleigh, the adopted daughter of the Vicar of Tinbury, accepts an invitation to be a guest at The Libertine's house party at LaMontagne.

Sabrina has dreams of becoming a missionary in a faraway land. Geoffrey Gillray, a Curate, has the same dream (or so it seems), and hopes that his cousin, The Libertine, will finance this grand missionary dream. Sabrina ingratiates herself with the Earl in order to help support Geoffrey's petition for the funding of this mission, which she hopes to share with him.

The Earl of Rawden, Rhys Gillray, is known throughout England as The Libertine, a writer of scandalous, sensual poetry, an artist of seduction. When The Libertine steals a kiss from Sabrina in the library, they are caught and Sabrina's reputation is in peril of being forever soiled. So The Libertine does the right thing and proposes marriage to Sabrina, and Sabrina does the right thing and accepts his proposal. Rhys decides he won't be the first man to have an unwanted marriage thrust upon him and Sabrina won't be the first dissatisfied wife. But how on earth will they get beyond this awkwardness that exists between them and continue on with the rest of their lives?

Meanwhile, Sylvie and Susannah, Sabrina's two long-lost sisters are searching for her. They were seperated years earlier when their father, Richard Lockwood, was murdered and their mother, Anna Holt, was falsely accused of his murder. Now, Mr. Thaddeus Morley is on trial for Richard's murder and Anna no longer is forced to live in hiding. Sabrina is finally reunited with her long-lost family but discovers Rhys was tied into her family's dark past - all those years ago. Can Sabrina find it in her heart to forgive him or will this newly divulged secret drive a permanent wedge between them?