Unbeknown to three young women their paths are about to cross, and in such a way that none of their lives will remain unaltered.
Beautiful Leonie, brought up in the East End by foster parents, receives a surprise visit from her wealthy godmother and is sent to work at Lady Angela Bentick's private nursing home near Buckingham Palace; Dorinda sails from France without her wastrel husband and becomes celebrated member of London's demi-monds; and Mercy is saved from social ignominity by an older man with whom she falls passionately in love.
That all three determine on making their own way at a time when to be independent was to risk social ostracism, or even tragedy, is partly due to the influence each comes to have on the others' lives. The love knots that they all face in their relationships finally unravel, but not before hearts have been broken and scandals risked.
