Lady Emily Turner should really be married by now, but with a dowry of her father's debts, her only suitor is the odious owner of her father's favourite gambling house.
Lord Julian Belfry is the second son of a marquess, but has managed to scandalise polite society with his acting career and the fact that he owns a less than salubrious theatre.
Crossing paths at a house party, they discover that a marriage of convenience might benefit them both: Emily can use her society connections to add some respectability to Julian's theatre, while also managing to escape the dubious world of her father.