Young, beautiful Emma Challis should have been happy about her engagement to Gerald Delmont. After all, wasn't he a brilliant and sophisticated young man and wasn't his legal career one of the most promising in all of London? Everyone seemed to agree that Gerald was the perfect husband for Emma -- everyone but Lady Grantly.

When Gerald first requests that Emma help Lady Grantly, his wealthy but difficult client, to choose a new home, Emma complies dutifully but reluctantly. Yet Lady Grantly is a delight! Not at all the cranky old thing Gerald has painted, she is a thoroughly charming and spirited woman whose scatterbrained ways endear her to Emma. When Lady Grantly picks the coast of Portugal as the site of her new home, Emma accompanies her there. The journey is filled with surprises. For the first time Emma comes to know a gentle way of life among gentle people where even the young, brilliant lawyers have a friendly air.