The orphaned Clare, with her coppery hair and green eyes, was no ordinary housemaid, but neither was Ridgeway Manor any ordinary household. What was it that Jeremiah Ridgeway had done which had left old Mr. Ridgeway so embittered? Whatever would happen when the captain returned from Nelson's Navy to the home where he had been so ill-treated in childhood? As Clare pondered these questions she little knew what danger and romance the future held for her.