For Frank Harte, an impoverished schoolteacher, January in London means a yearly fight to survive. A former soldier, his injuries have barred him from all but the lowest-paid posts, and the cold incapacitates him still more.
The chance to work as a tutor to Viscount Gracewater, son of the famous big-game hunting Earl, comes as a lifeline to Frank. The Earl's Knightsbridge mansion is huge, elegant - and, most temptingly, kept warm from basement to attics. Viscount "Scapegrace" Gracie, used to foreign climes, is delicate. He's also wild, charming, and only five years younger than Frank himself. His innocence and feckless good nature soon endear him to the quiet, reserved tutor. But the Earl's house is a dark one beneath its bright veneer, and the Viscount is in the thrall of unscrupulous Arthur Dickson, a handsome, brutal parasite who'll stop at nothing to retain his power over Gracie's heart and soul.
Edwardian secrets burgeon as Frank begins a battle to free his student, confronting along the way the knowledge that he's losing his own heart to this brilliant and beautiful young man.