Maddie doesn't have dreams. She has plans.

Finally, after weeks of hard work, the painting she's going to present to the Royal Women's Academy of Art is finished. The next step? She'll get a fellowship to study at the academy, become one of the few female artists in the British Empire, and live happily ever after.

Her mother abhors the idea of her daughter being an artist-how vulgar! But the fellowship will grant six thousand pounds per year to Maddie.

When eccentric Lord Hector ruins her precious painting and injures her hand-by accident, of course-she's furious at first, distraught later. She lost the opportunity to receive the fellowship and maybe ever paint again because of Hector's clumsiness.

Mortified, he promises to make amends after he returns from his trip to the Amazonian Forest. Botany is his passion, and as the brother of the Duke of Blackburn, he has the money and support to pursue his dream. Money he'll share with Maddie to help her become a painter.

Not feeling particularly optimistic after being injured and witnessing her painting being destroyed, Maddie wishes to never see him again. Her wish is granted when his ship sinks in the middle of the ocean during a storm, and he's pronounced dead.

Eight years later, an ocean liner rescues him. Hector spent those years on a secluded island alone, hunting, fishing, and fighting against wild primates. In the meantime, his brother died, and the dukedom passed to his cousin, who has no intention of yielding it to a demented, savage man with a baboon's manners.

Maddie is the only person Hector trusts and confides in. Appalled by his cousin's brutal treatment of the employees at the family's factory, he's determined to claim the title and help those workers, but first, he has to prove he's in full possession of his mental capabilities. Maddie takes on the daunting chore of reintroducing the wild quasi-duke into society. If she succeeds, Hector, once he's the Duke of Blackburn, will help her realize her dream.