The three Denham girls are looking forward to a season at Brighton, the fashionable resort presided over by George, Prince of Wales and his morganatic wife, Maria Fitzherbert. At the last minute, their mother insists on cancelling the visit because Viscount Pamyngton, only son of her clostest friend, the Countess of Nevern, has arrived home unexpectedly.

The two Mamas have long hoped for a match between Pamyngton and one of the Denham girls but, so far, that eligible young man has never stayed in the neighbourhood long enough even to meet them. This time, the determination is the meeting will at last be contrived to achieve the desired result.

Of the three Denham girls currently out in society, Eleanor is the most attractive, even if young, and quite fancies the marrying Pamyngton to become the next Countess of Nevern. Louisa, the eldest, cares not a jot for Pamyngton or his title, as her heart lies elsewhere — she is in love with a clergyman whose meagre living makes him unsuitable. And Catherine is an impetuous little minx, who often speaks without thinking and is far too flighty to be the wife of a viscount.

Similar plans were once made for a marriage between Pamyngton and Fanny Denham, the eldest of the six Denham sisters, but it all came to nothing when the viscount fell in love with the beautiful Georgiana Eversley. Fanny is now happily married and residing in Brighton — a fact that gives Catherine the idea of making her own way to Brighton to enjoy the season she has been denied. But her runaway adventure quickly goes wrong as she discovers the dangers of being a solitary young woman with neither protection nor money. 

So when a mysterious stranger helps her to return home unscathed, she is grateful until she discovers that her handsome stranger is the very same Viscount Pamyngton that her mother desires her to marry. Angry at his deception, she does her best to avoid him altogether. But when he starts to take an interest in her elder sister, Louisa, Catherine undergoes a change of heart...