Justinian Longleigh, youngest son of the Duke and Duchess of Bellevue, has achieved his dream of becoming the youngest don at Oxford University. That the professors are not allowed to marry bothers him not at all. He desires to live the life of the mind, not of the flesh. However, when he rescues a young woman from a laboratory fire, he feels responsible for her life.

Elizabeth Barton has been living disguised as a student at the all-male institution for years learning all manner of things, but none useful for a young woman. Having just blown up her second laboratory, the chancellor will no longer turn a blind eye and orders her to leave and never return. She has nowhere to go. Justin knows the exact person to help her, his mother, Lady Flora. As soon as they meet, Flora knows this is the woman for her son if only he will give up academia for wedded bliss. She will do all in her power to see them married.