When Joyce is born in the East India Company’s Madras Presidency, her bad mother rejects her but her father, an earl’s youngest son, adores her. As a child Joyce is afraid of her mother. Only time will tell if her stepbrother, Sylvester and his friend, Vivian de Lancy can keep their promises to protect her. She loves them, her father, her ayah, and Mistress de Lancy. Joyce dreads the day when, according to custom, she must follow Sylvester and Vivian to England to be educated. 

Nine years old she is sent to her grandfather’s ancient castle in Cornwall. Heartbroken, surrounded by strangers, she never changes her opinion that England is a dull, gloomy, grey country. At just seventeen she is a reluctant debutante still longing for her happy life in Hindustan, a dazzling land with exceptional beauty to which she is determined to return. To comfort herself during dreary years, whenever Joyce is most homesick, she clutches her most precious treasure, a  heart-shaped pendant Vivian gave her.

Sylvester, who abhors the climate, fatal diseases, insects and snakes in India, settles in England. Vivian, heir to his mother’s emporium, the largest in Madras, returns to India which he loves.

While betrayed by those Joyce loves most, can she come to terms with it and triumph over many unavoidable, painful twists and turns in her life? Is it impossible for her to marry a suitable gentleman she loves and enjoy the happy life she craves?