WHEN AN UNLIKELY SUITOR.... The Earl of Stokeford is hardly a man of amiable disposition and social graces. He scowls whenever he pleases, becomes rude at any time convenient for him, and worse, has a regrettable tendency to scare ladies out of their wits. Therefore, it is a most astonishing thing indeed when, upon laying eyes on the beautiful Miss Sophie Winscott, he decides to embark on a courtship... Except, of course, the hapless peer knows nothing in the matters of romance...until he receives help from an unlikely quarter. MEETS AN EAGER MATCHMAKER Then enter Miss Winscott's cousin, the vivacious Caroline Davis, who oddly gets along well with the slightly waspish Earl. Determined to help, Caroline endeavours to make a match of the two. But for all her enthusiasm, she can't help but be drawn to the troubled lord... and things start to get a little tangled from there.

On Christmas Eve, around 1812, Pip, an orphan who is about six years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting the graves of his mother, father, and siblings. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file to grind away his shackles, from the home he shares with his abusive older sister and her kind, passive husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The next day, soldiers recapture the convict while he is engaged in a fight with another convict; the two are returned to the prison ships from which they escaped...