Born of Anglo-Indian and Irish descent, young Queenie Kelly strives to better her circumstances in a journey that takes her from her home country to England, Paris, New York, Hollywood, and Mexico. Her rise from obscurity leads her to nightclubs and then on to movie stardom as Dawn Avalon. Along the way she experiences great joy and devastating loss and pain, poverty, fear and riches, and above all notoriety. But of the men who use her and whom she uses, only one, a mysterious and handsome prince, owns her heart. Author Michael Korda was the nephew of Alexander Korda, the first husband of Merle Oberon, of whom this novel is said yo be a roman a clef.