Isabelle Worthing is heiress to an old fortune, yet to everyone else she is just a regular teen. That all changes when her estranged grandmother passes away and the family retreat to Worthington Manor to make the necessary arrangements. When Issy wakes up in 1904 immersed in the debutante season, she has one task - to secure a husband, without screwing up history.
Adrift in her own time and butting heads with her mother, Issy must secure a match for her elderly ancestor, Lady Brampton, that does not alter their family's trajectory. Her parents desire a match with the eligible Lord Eltham, but Lady Brampton diverts her attentions towards the dashing yet disgraceful Mr Walker. Issy however, is determined to defy all expectations and secure a love match.
The Debutante also follows the story of Issy's own mother, Susan, who at 17 had travelled back to 1944 to endure a 'season' that was as unrecognisable as war-torn England, leaving its indelible mark on her heart and teaching her the value of the unbreakable mother-daughter bond.