The book begins with Eloise Bridgerton pondering her lonely life as a spinster. She was always happy to be unmarried, so long as it was with her best friend Penelope, but now even she had married.
One day she offers condolences to a distant cousin’s husband, a Sir Phillip Crane, whose depressed wife, Marina, has just passed. The two begin a pen pal letter exchange lasting a long time. Meanwhile, Phillip is struggling to care for his twin children, Oliver and Amanda, since his wife’s passing, though he does not disclose this to Eloise in her letters.
Eloise decides to surprise Phillip at his home, where she is shocked to discover he has children. Nonetheless, she takes it in her stride and cares for him and the children. As they spend more time together, Phillip shares the traumas of his childhood and his marriage to Marina with Eloise. The two begin to develop feelings for each other and eventually decide to marry and they live happily ever after.
