When Fanny Templeton crosses swords with the Marquis of Ordley she has no idea they will soon be meeting on the battlefield at Waterloo...

Fanny Templeton, a young widow, is anxious about her stepdaughter's marriage to penniless Freddie March. She travels with her employer, Lady Mapleforth, to a chateau near Nice, just as Napoleon escapes from Elba. Fleeing to Brussels, Fanny meets up again with Lord Ordley, March's elder brother. His previous hostility dissipates and they fall in love. At the Duchess of Richmond's ball he gives Fanny a ring. The allies win at Waterloo, but Ordley is wounded. He is nursed back to health by Fanny before the pair return to England via Brussels. It is then that Fanny begins to wonder if she has made a terrible mistake....