Beatrice Harrod is one of several daughters of the Harrods family and is living a very comfortable life at the end of the Victorian era.
However, she is not yet married and is getting to an age where this is a little worrying.
She has been stuck in the Devon countryside for some years and is now in rural Sussex with her family.
Her head is turned by a dashing young man in uniform and all her troubles follow this.
This true story takes her from London to Paris and Vienna and later to Calcutta.
She leaves chaos in her wake and causes sadness and intrigue for her family.
It results in her three sons being on opposing sides during the Second World War.