Lady Georgiana Claverton is fed up with the ton in general and the marriage mart in particular. Having endured several seasons to fulfill her parents' wishes, and having come to the conclusion that all men are inept and self-centered, she has decided to rejoice in the inheritance left her by a wealthy aunt and remain single, until she encounters the brash American who has inherited a nearby estate. Coming upon Justin Appleton in a sweat-soaked shirt laboring in his smithy, proves to her in the most knee-weakening way why the schoolmates she had scorned for their idiocy, acted so foolishly over men.Now, all too aware of the reason, she is determined to ignore it, but that is no easy task, especially when he rescues her from an irate neighbor.

Justin Appleton has been so devoted to building canals; he has never had time or the interest in anything else, mocking friends who fall for pretty faces. Now it is not a pretty face, but a challenging, and intelligent woman who rapidly becomes his obsession. How can an American engineer and a British aristocrat overcome the ocean that will separate them and the stubborn independence they admire in one another.