Isabelle Rackham enters into an arranged marriage in 1850 with the eligible Alexander Osgood, owner of a successful mill in Manchester, England, and who has close business relationships with Isabelle's father. Although she enters the marriage with no illusions about love, but with a will to make it work, she finds her new home in cold, dreary, dark northern England difficult to bear until an accident occurs on a visit to Alexander's country estate.