Mrs. Rosalind Chase, a young widow of a pastor, operates a Seminary school for young ladies in the country outside of London. She uses the book, A Lady’s Rules for Proper Behavior, that she secretly wrote to teach her students, among other things, rules for behavior in society. Initially, the income from the book was enough to support herself, and pay for her brother’s education at Cambridge. Suddenly, the book loses its popularity and her brother’s gambling debts threaten to take away everything she’s worked for including the school. So, she visits London society to discover why her book is no longer popular and finds that the brother of one of her pupils and his friend have a complete disregard for the rules, all together forcing her to reimagine the rules of love, entirely.