Born in a London workhouse, Sarah Connolly's only desire is to put the city firmly behind her. Physically and emotionally scarred by her brutal upbringing in one of the bleakest quarters of the grandest Victorian city of them all, Sarah has her sights and heart set on Venice, where she can make a fresh start. Hired as a companion to an elderly lady and her three young charges, Sarah sets off on a journey that will change her life in ways she could never have dreamed possible.

Sebastian Grimsthorpe, Lord Wortham, is a man driven by revenge. His young illegitimate daughter was raped by a man he considered a close friend, and now Sebastian can't rest until he sees the man brought down and destroyed. Sebastian concocts an intricate plan, which begins with him engineering his own death and assuming an alternate identity. Sebastian follows de Lint, his daughter's rapist, to Venice. There he finds de Lint in the company of his elderly mother, her companion, Sarah, and their three young wards. Unprepared for the inclusion of Sarah in de Lint's party, Sebastian is forced to alter his plan to accommodate her. Believing her to be his enemy's whore, Sebastian decides to seduce her and use her to bring about de Lint's eventual downfall.

What follows is the slow and sensual seduction of the timid and insecure Sarah. When the cloaked man she meets in Venice marks her for his own, she's ready for him. But Sarah isn't the only one who falls under the city's sultry spell. Sebastian is mesmerized by the small, plain woman. And although he planned for her to be the instrument of his revenge, he finds his hard heart is slowly melting and the woman he planned to use and cast aside has taken up stubborn residence in his barren life, refusing to be dislodged.

The city of Venice is as well-rounded a character as any other in this book. You completely fall under the city's spell with its canals and midnight masquerades. Sarah is insecure, so meek, so cautious, but at the same time has an inner strength and drive to rival the most spunky and outspoken of heroines. Sebastian blindly rushes forward with his plans for revenge (blindly being the key word here), never thinking about the consequences. Somewhere deep inside, he realizes he's losing a part of his humanity, but he's so focused on "justice" he doesn't care. In the end, Sarah makes him care again. A sensual and bewitching Gothic-type romance.