From one of Derbyshire, England's oldest, most prominent families, heiress Catherine Darcy is beautiful, rich, and seemingly destined to the legacy of her Regency-era ancestors. Determined to follow her own heart, Catie marries handsome, proud Sean Kelly - the son of an Irish horse farmer. In this modern-day continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, newlyweds Sean and Catie depart London for Savannah, Georgia, where Sean has accepted a yearlong administrative internship. The young couple is hopeful the romantic coastal town will provide neutral ground for their opposite worlds but soon discover the southern city has a social pecking order all its own. Behind Savannah's veil of Spanish moss, a dying socialite and a mute boy send the Kellys on separate paths of personal awakening while together embarking on a journey of the heart that teaches them the true meaning of their enduring love for each other.

A tragic plane crash eight years earlier has left Catherine Elizabeth Darcy orphaned and in the custody of her overly protective brother, Bennet. Since then, her life at Pemberley Estate - the Darcy's ancestral home in Derbyshire, England - has been sheltered and lacking adventure of any kind. When 16-year-old Catie arrives home for her school holiday, she is expecting another long, boring summer of daydreaming and whiling away warm afternoons reading the romance novels her brother calls "rubbish." What she discovers, however, is a handsome yet insufferable Irishman named Sean Kelly, her summer riding instructor. Coupled with an intriguing and mysterious WWI-era diary, which she finds hidden in the window seat of her bedroom, Catie Darcy's summer soon proves to be anything but boring.