Mitchelstown Castle in 1786 Ireland hums with intrigue. The new young governess, Mary Wollstonecraft (future author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman), witnesses the stabbing of the Anglo-Irish lord's illegitimate son. Irish rebel Liam Donovan becomes the prime suspect, but Mary, champion of the oppressed, and susceptible to Liam's charm, tries to prove him innocent. Set during Mary's term as governess, this fictional portrayal presents her as the brilliant, passionate, and conflicted woman she was in real life.