Handsome rogue Alasdare Lucifer Cynster escapes to Devonshire before the matchmakers of London set their sights on him. This leads him to Phyllida Tallent, a beauty of means whom Lucifer is determined to seduce without submitting to the parsons noose. Although she has many suitors, Lucifers offer to teach Phyllida about the ways of love is almost too tantalizing to resist.