In a desperate attempt to secure a roof over her younger sister's head, nineteen year old Allie Winthrop takes a job that no one else seemed too eager to apply for. The job is a maid position for a well to do family who had made a fortune in both the ranching and railroad industries. Her bosses, Mr. and Mrs. Treadwell, aren't exactly the friendliest of people. Pure snobs truly is what they are, but Allie is used to being looked down on by the wealthy. All she cares about is that the jobs pays well and offers room and board to not only her but her sister, Amelia. The Treadwell's had even agreed to allow Amelia to get schooling from the woman they employed to teach their own children. Life with the Treadwell's is better than the life that Allie and Amelia had known before and Allie feels content and secure until Amelia starts speaking of a man in the attic. Spurred by her sisters stories and by the Treadwell's startling reactions to her questions about the attic, Allie decides to take a look for herself. What she discovers there will change her life forever.

1558. Elizabeth, the last of King Henry's heirs, is a traitor's daughter. Now, she is England's last hope. After five gruesome years, Bloody Mary is on her deathbed. She lives her sister Elizabeth a daunting inheritance: the throne of England. The bishops will not anoint a heretic. A foreign queen plots for the throne. And Englishmen and foreigners alike are starting to notice Elizabeth's growing infatuation for a man who spent his youth in a traitor's cell. And the people demand a prince to fill the empty throne by Elizabeth's side: a husband that may wrest away every morsel of her power. Tides are turning in England, and no one is safe. Not even the queen.

There are some places you should never go.