Lucy Snow is a young orphan with neither money nor relatives. However, she has an excellent education, a strong character, and a sufficiently adventurous mind to set off on her own for the continent and find a good position as an English teacher in a respectable girls’ boarding school.
That is where, amid relentless everyday work and small-scale female intrigues, fate brings her together with two very different men—an Englishman, John, and a Belgian, Paul. The first seems to be the true embodiment of calm British charm; the second is dark, harsh, and inconsistent. The first evokes in Lucy a warm sympathy, while the second triggers an entire storm of conflicting feelings. But will either of them be her love and destiny—something Lucy does not yet know…