When astronomer Abigail Cabot, who lacks in social graces, asks notorious rogue Jamie Calhoun to instruct her in the art of seduction so that she can snare the man of her dreams, unexpected love blossoms between them.

"Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits--torn between their commitment to religion and their desire to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community. It is two romantic relationships that will rend their friendship, and in the wake of this rupture, Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished nineteenth-century astronomer...