Accused of witchcraft and hunted by Louis XIV's fanatical Inquisitor, Marietta Riccardi is only rescued from being burned alive by the intervention of Léon de Villeneuve - the Lion of Languedoc. Small wonder that she falls in love with him! Yet Léon is on his way to marry his childhood sweetheart, Elise, and to him Marietta is nothing but a tiresome peasant girl . . . beautiful and seductive perhaps, but an unwelcome distraction from his forthcoming wedding. Marietta knows that she should leave France - escape her persecutors and her hopeless love - yet she cannot tear herself away from Languedoc, or from Léon . . .