With her father lost and life in shambles, she never dreams the one to help her would be the former lieutenant who broke her heart. After returning from staying with his sister and new brother-in-law, Spencer Addison finds himself trapped at his family’s estate between the need for purpose and attempting to please his mother’s wishes for him to both marry well and forget his twelve years in the navy. While swimming one morning, he helps a young lady rescue her reticule from the pond. A promised dance in exchange for his service gives him hope there will be more to the summer than melting heat and his mother’s icy glares. Avice King is horrified to discover that the bumpkin who helped her retrieve her reticule is no laborer at all, but the charming Lieutenant Addison she bore her soul to five years ago aboard her father’s ship. Her anger at him pushing her away has festered, but she is determined not to let it distract her from her duty. Ever since losing her father at sea, she has thrown herself into caring for her mother’s fragile health without a care for her own wants or needs. But money is growing ever tighter, and the courts won’t declare her father’s death official without more evidence, keeping his fortune wrapped up out of their reach. As Spencer and Avice are thrown together in town, she comes to see his true humility, and he finds she is no longer the young girl he discouraged. Her feelings for him begin to bloom afresh, but Avice knows she cannot have what she wants. She needs her father’s death proved or his approval before she can marry. Spencer and Avice must find a way around the obstacles placed by their parents or let go of the only joy either has found in years.