Arthur Fordham, a very rich coal merchant who lives near Durham, constantly plays the card tables with high society in the London clubs. Lord William Belington, a man of sixty years, owes Fordham and many others a great deal of money, which he cannot repay to him or any man.

Consequently, Fordham offers to pay all of Lord Belington's debts and give him an allowance, if he will marry his youngest daughter Isobel who has just turned seventeen. He thinks if this man marries his daughter it will give him a status so high he will possibly mix with royalty.

Isobel is married to Lord Belington within the month, then sent away to Sussex to the man's filthy, run-down estate. Mary, her mother, is dying, and her grandmother is also ill. Alice who was born to a maid in Isobel's house, grew up with her, and the girls are best friends. Dune O'Maley, the gypsy boy, who the girls have known from a very young age, follows Isobel to Sussex. He loves her and wants to know where she will be at the end of her journey.

The book is about the new life Isobel must make and the people she meets through the years. Because at the age of seventeen she was sold for a status. Which made her Lady Isobel Belington.