Queen Victoria's close friend, the Scottish Duke of Buccleuch, Lady Margaret Montagu Scott is expected to make an advantageous marriage. She is an impulsive and outspoken girl in a repressive society where women are, quite literally, caged in corsets and required to conform. When Lady Margaret's parents arrange a society marriage for her, she tries to reconcile herself to the match. Shortly before her betrothal is announced, Margaret flees, leaving her parents to explain her sudden absence. Banished from polite society, she throws herself into charitable work and finds strength in a circle of female friends like herself. Margaret resolves to follow her heart - a journey of self-discovery that will take her to Ireland, America, and then back to Britain where she finds the life she was always meant to lead.