In this Cinderella story, Tabitha Blackmore yearns for a life of her own, free from her hostile stepmother and gold-digging step-sister. Tabitha creates some of the most noteworthy hats and accessories in London, but looks forward to the day she can break free from her current life and attend millinery school. When an opportunity arises to outfit the Duchess of Stowe, a chance meeting with her son could change Tabitha's life forever. For Nicholas Fairchild is a duke in name but not at heart. As his mother returns to society following her mourning period for his father, Nicholas dreads his responsibility to entertain vapid, fortune-seeking socialites and, eventually, find a wife. Then he happens upon Tabitha, who is everything he would have hoped for but nothing that he would have ever expected. But just as he starts to fall for her, she disappears from his life forever and he must begin his search for the woman he fell in love with at first sight.