Having endured a privileged, but rather cloistered life, twenty-three year old Paul Derry comes to Prior Street to stay with his spinster cousins, Viola and Letitia Derimont. He is surprised to find himself living in an ordinary area and released from the restrictions of London society, makes the acquaintance of Catrina Bradley, whose mother runs a shop in the street. Catrina fills the role of Miss Derimont's daughter and the young people become friends. Paul's aristocratic background allows him to elevate Catrina onto an equal level and a holiday in Brighton re-enforces this situation. It is only when Catrina's brother, Charles, is humiliated by his fiance breaking their engagement to marry Paul's brother, John, that the difference in the two worlds becomes apparent. To add to this disgrace Letty Derimont, a lovely and desperate to be married thirty-five, encourages the attentions of John's disreputable and heavily indebted mentor, Ranley Staines."