Jennie Trent has three loves in her life: her family at the Station House, deep in the Kent countryside; Applemere, the mysterious great house nearby, to which so many important visitors come; and Jack Colby, her father's porter. Applemere guards its privacy, for the Fokingham family is closely connected to the royal family of Montevanya, a small but strategically important kingdom in the Balkans. When Jennie makes friends with Anna, the Fokinghams' wayward daughter, she soon finds herself caught between her love for her home and Jack and the beckoning exciting world beyond them - a world that includes kings, princes and her own mysterious Aunt Eileen. When war breaks out in 1914, however, Jennie finds her own path through her dilemma - a path that leads her to love through challenges that she must force herself to overcome.