London, 1668. Though the streets hum with promise following the restoration of the crown, Lucy North is trapped. She faces either working for her aunt and uncle for the rest of her life, or marrying the next man willing to take her without a dowry. She must escape.

Then she meets Thomas Ashwell, a young and charming apothecary, who offers her a route out. Lucy is quick to fall in love, and when Thomas proposes she has no hesitation in accepting him.

But, on the eve of her wedding, Lucy falls and injures her head. Surrendering to the care of her concerned fiancée, Lucy's world soon starts to take on a warped, dreamlike - or nightmarish - quality. Can she really trust this man?