Mary Washington's life is thrown into turmoil when her mother Martha takes on the role of matchmaker to the desperate and must spend two full weeks in the company of those as unsuccessful in securing an offer as her sister Charlotte.

David Wilkinson has spent years avoiding all the trumped up misses his mother Diane has thrown at him with no desire to be leg-shackled, but his grandfather's health is failing and he may have no choice but to set up his nursery with a simpering fool as the heir to the earldom.