The haughty Beverley family is obsessed with regaining Mannerling, the exquisite seventeenth-century mansion gambled away by their now-deceased father, Sir Beverley. Three of the six Beverley daughters have failed to win back their ancestral estate - settling for love matches over mere bricks and mortar. Now it is Rachel's turn to woo the latest eligible bachelor-in-residence, handsome widower Charles Blackwood.

Yet her plan to win the autocratic Charles almost comes to naught: At their first meeting, Rachel forgets herself and admonishes Charles for neglecting his two small children. The antics of young Beth and Mark Blackwood successfully throw Charles and Rachel together, but does Rachel love Charles for himself or for Mannerling?