Molly Gibson has been raised by her widowed father, Mr. Gibson. Molly becomes an attractive and rather unworldly young woman, which arouses the interest of one of her father's apprentices, Mr. Coxe. Mr. Gibson discovers the young man's secret affection and sends Molly to stay with the Hamleys of Hamley Hall, a gentry family that purportedly dates from the Heptarchy but whose circumstances are now reduced.