Obedient to the wishes of her father, Barbara Comford allows herself to be married to Marcus, Viscount Reyne, the son of her father's childhood friend. However she is only sixteen and her mother stipulates that the marriage should not be consummated until Barbara is at least eighteen. But, by then, her husband, finding marriage an unattractive prospect, has joined forces against Napoleon, returning to England only after eight years have passed and the French have been defeated. Unable to find any further excuses not to shoulder his responsibilities, he writes to inform his father-in-law that he intends to claim his bride. But after his neglect of her, Barbara is not sure at all that she wants to be claimed by her errant husband!