How can a disgraced Earl make the most of his return from exile, especially when he is impersonating his half-brother, John, the real Earl? Silas,expects to find a flourishing estate at The Priory and marry an heiress when he returns from a twenty-year exile in India. He is attracted to Fanny, the heiress daughter of a wealthy trader he meets on the homeward-bound ship, but she dislikes him and her brother Gerard, who is to take over his dead father's business, rejects him. Then he meets his family, cousins Lucien and Amanda, and Aunt Charlotte, and finds his inheritance worthless. He needs to recoup his fortunes, reverting to his earlier career of gambling and worse.