The Duke of Sandringham arrives in the raw frontier town of Wylder to explore nearby copper mines, but soon contracts typhoid. The only person who can safely nurse him back to health is the kitchen drudge, Catriona, who survived the typhoid fever that took her parents. The duke's awkward ginger-haired nephew Hugo, in turn, saves Cat's life, and later her virtue, yet she ignores him despite his interest, in favor of her employer's handsome ne'er-do-well son. Lovely raven-haired Cat falls afoul of the jealous ladies in the duke's party. Falsely accused of stealing, Catriona is banished and becomes the prize to be won at the local brothel auction... But Hugo knows nothing of the auction. What rescue can be hoped?