Devon, 1815. In the dying days of the Napoleonic Wars, a Danish-American lieutenant, Cecil Stark, is captured attempting to run supplies to the French. Imprisoned at Dartmoor, he and his fellow captives make a desperate escape attempt, in which Stark is shot. He is found by Grace Malherb, and the two fall in love while he recuperates on her family's estate. But Grace's father is heavily indebted to the boorish Peter Norcot, whose price for forgiving the loan is Grace's hand in marriage....