It’s been three years since James’s father, Viscount Winston Lynton, died mysteriously in a carriage accident in Vienna, his fob watch and signet ring missing from his body. When Caleb and Sir William recover the watch and return it to James’s mother, Lady Emily, questions arise surrounding the accident, especially when Lord Marcus Stone, a fellow antiquities collector, surfaces in Surrey inquiring about the watch.

Will the mystery surrounding the late viscount be solved?

Meanwhile, James and Susan have been granted permission to marry, and a wedding is planned for the end of October. But then Lady Emily, James’s mother, falls into a coma after being struck by a falling tree in her garden, causing Lady Susanna to risk her own health by stubbornly refusing to leave her bedside. And when a Scarlatina outbreak later strikes down Susanna, James fears for her life. After all, there are no antibiotics in 1815 Regency England.

The wedding is again postponed to Christmas Day. Will James and Susan finally marry? Or will another calamity befall them when Susanna’s mother, the Duchess of Bradford, who fiercely opposes the match, unexpectedly returns to Surrey?