Grace Banks is much looking forward to her first Christmas at the Home for Desolate Ladies. As its proprietress, she is keen to bring comfort and joy to the gentlewomen who have taken refuge there, and also enjoy the festivities herself.  However, the sudden arrival of a visitor threatens her plans, for she and he are not strangers. Edward, Duke of Tavistock, is searching for his young cousin. Winifred went missing after departing Bath under a cloud of gossip, and there is reason to believe she is currently residing at the Home. But he also has another motivation for visiting: Grace, the woman he loved and mysteriously lost, before learning she had married someone else. Edward wants answers, but Grace is not sure she can bear raking over the past. He appears to believe she forsook him for another, when it was news of his engagement to a young heiress that sent her running. That, and a secret she feels she may never be able to share…Can the spirit of Christmas and love from the past, heal the present, and bring a happy future?