Medora wasn't born a lady. Her father was unknown, her mother a famous courtesan, with whom, as a child, she travelled continuously. It was largely to get away from her mother that she became that typically Victorian figure--a governess.

Not for long, though. She was too impetuous and too attractive.

During a clandestine visit to the theatre, she meets an actor, Julian Ross. Dazzled by the glamour of the stage, she runs away with him and becomes his leading lady. When the glamour wears off and she needs, again, a way of escape, she finds it through the Marquis of Cheyn, who wants to marry her.

Now she has money, position, a house in Berkeley Square, and a beautiful country estate, but not a true marriage. And a third man appears in her life, colorful and exotic--Gilderoy, the gypsy. This time the escape route leads much further away, across sea and moutains to Seville.

All she leaves behind in the great house is a portrait of herself; a picture which haunts the family and especially Lord Cheyn. Gazing at it, he realizes that he cannot forget her, cannot let her go. He sets out in pursuit...