A most unladylike heroine struggles to outwit the system that would have her become a lady.

"I do not want to be a lady. I want to be a wool merchant." In those two sentences young Maude Reed expresses her most burning desire. But in fifteenth-century England, girls of good family do not go into business. Instead, they are often sent to live in one of the great castles, where they do needlework, play the lute, and are taught the complicated customs and manners of that age of knighthood.

At Beauclaire Castle, Maude meets two people who are to have a lasting influence on her - the beautiful Melusine, who serves Lady Astallon, and Henry Rancon, destined one day for knighthood. Nevertheless, the moment comes when she can face life there no longer, and on Christmas day she mounts her pony, steals over the drawbridge and starts on the long perilous journey home. Then her real adventures begin ...