Ilesa Harle and her father the Hon. Mark Harle, the Vicar of Littlestone, are finding it difficult to "make ends meet", owning little of value other than the run-down Vicarage and the two fine paintings by Stubbs that they have inherited. Lovely young Ilesa, therefore, lives a simple, rather sheltered life — unlike her glamorous and worldly half-sister Doreen, who has been widowed and now aims to marry the dashing Duke of Mountheron. The trouble is, that Doreen has been caught in the arms of a lover by a man who is sure to tell tales to the Duke and ruin her prospects of marrying into money. Doreen begs Ilesa to cover for her and tell the Duke that she was at the Vicarage at the time in question. But when the Duke arrives at the Vicarage and invites the Vicar and both daughters to his estate, Doreen is beside herself with jealousy — and even more so when it becomes clear that the Duke is falling in love with "the wrong sister".
