Colin McCoy wants to imitate his older brother-but the wrong one. His father demands he return home after finishing university at Cambridge, to live down his bad brother's sins. When he falls head over heels in love with the daughter of his father's boss, he is surprised at the older generation's approval. Lady Fiona Cleary discovers her carefully controlled passion can be allowed freedom in her marriage to Colin, and their son is born just as the "bad brother" writes home that he also has a son with his new wife in the American West. How can Colin overcome the humdrum nature of his life and be more like his newly redeemed brother, wild adventures and all, without losing the wife and child he loves?