Modern-day Alaina Sawyer is going out of her mind! She's having disturbing visions of a woman who looks exactly like her. This nineteenth century woman, the Countess of Saybrooke, talks about switching places with someone. Evidently, a mystic, Madame Reena, is the means to this end. The Countess and her lover, Sir Derek Donnehey, are planning this escape so that they can be together, since the Countess' husband refuses to divorce her.

But what does all of this has to do with Alaina? She finds out when she wakes up the next morning in the Countess' bed... in the year 1816! The only solution she can think of is to assume Lady Saybrooke's identity, then find Madame Reena to unswitch the Countess and herself. She must adjust to her strange situation of being the Countess of Saybrooke and in so doing, falls in love with her new "husband." There is one hitch: the Earl of Saybrooke absolutely despises his wife. Alaina must convince the man of her dreams that though she looks like his wife, Alicia, she is another person with completely different morals.

Richard Cransworth, the Earl of Saybrooke has had to contend with his disagreeable and unfaithful wife, Alicia, ever since the birth of their son, Terrence. She's never forgiven Richard nor Terrence for the trauma of childbirth. The Earl banishes her to his principle estate and avoids her by concentrating on his life's passion: Roman archeology. When his mother insists on spending the Christmas holidays at Saybrooke Hall, he is less than thrilled, but he bows to his mother's wishes for a family reunion and braces himself for the tempestuous time ahead.

When he finally sees his wife again, he's plagued by doubts about her. She's more beautiful than ever, only she's somehow different. Something he can't quite put his finger on. Her behavior seems to be exemplary, which causes him to be suspicious all the more. How can he convince his own heart that his wife's sudden descent into virtue is not just wishful thinking, and that she is now a dream come true?