When a disgraced actress accepts the help of a broken barrister, the ensuing smoldering desire between them threatens their shattered dreams and unspoken secrets.

Never having learnt to read, at sixteen Lily Venableis an actress on the cusp of stardom when she steps in as understudy to the queen of the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. When someone arranges for Lily to be caught with stolen pieces of the leading lady's jewelry and a nice sum of money from the company's cash box, her career is over. She flees to London, starving and without money. A young street urchin finds her weeping in an alley and takes her to Goodrum's House of Pleasure. After nine years working there as a seamstress, she volunteers to become mistress to a young earl. She is provided a home, anonymity, and a degree of independence for the price of sharing the earl's bed once a week. Many failed actresses have settled for less.