Eloise was born out of wedlock and raised in a frugal environment by her single mother. After her mother's death, she determinedly writes a letter to her father: the Viscount Pulborough. She asks him if he's ever spared her or her mother a second thought, but three weeks pass without a reply. One night, Eloise attends a work party and runs into the Viscount's stepson! He bluntly tells her that upper-class folks like him are used to gold diggers like her swarming around themβ¦and that if she thinks she's squeezing any money out of him or his family, she's got another thing coming!