London, England 1586. | Sixteen-year-old Mercy Hart is the daughter of one of London's richest and strictest cloth merchants. | Kit Turner is and actor and the illegitimate son of the late Earl of Dorset. A chance encounter finds Kit falling for the beautiful Mercy's charms, but their love is forbidden. A merchant's daughter and a vagabond - it simply cannot be. | If Mercy chooses Kit she must renounce her family name and leave her home. Will she favour duty over true love, or will she give Kit his heart's desire?