The story takes place in France and Italy during the late 1400's. The king of Italy, Francesco Lorenzo wasn't blessed with ay daughters and neither was Gabriel Hawkins, king of France, so once king Francesco's niece, Amber Lorenzo was born, they betrothed her to prince Louis Hawkins to bring piece between the two kingdoms. The book itself talks about how the prince and his wife build up their relationship after being friends for 18 years under all the pressure of their parents and their need to act as a husband and wife and not friends for the majority of time.