 Olivia Harwood, missionary s widow, meets charming Mark Bellis, artist and rogue, on the ship taking them both back to 1890s London. When Olivia opens a lodging house Mark becomes her lodger, then her lover. Olivia falls so completely under amoral Mark s spell that he s able to overcome her scruples, and soon she s his willing tool in an ambitious scheme of theft and blackmail...maybe too ambitious.