After Lord Michael inadvertently insults Antigone, a gentleman scholar's daughter, a heavy dislike is born on her side. For his part, Michael is inelegant at expressing or understanding his sudden attraction to Antigone, and uses private poetry to articulate his confused feelings for her. Soon Antigone begins receiving mysterious poems from another suitor unbeknownst to Michael. When she accepts a proposal from this suitor, Michael leaves on a diplomatic mission, despairing of ever acting on his conflicted feelings for her.

Michael returns several years later, surprised to find a still unwed Antigone visiting his family estate. After an incident where Antigone accidentally stumbles upon Michael bathing in a lake, she begins to see him in a different light and breaks her engagement to another. Their intense connection takes an unexpected turn when it appears that Michael schemed to entrap her but all is not what it seems.