In 1870s Trouville, innocent 16-year-old Vere Herbert weds cruel, dissipated Prince Zouroff.

Over the course of three weeks, young Englishman Paul has a passionate affair with a beautiful, older woman in Switzerland. When the tryst ends, and Paul learns she is in fact a Russian queen, she is murdered by her husband, but not before having Paul's child.

In medieval England, a woman trapped in a cruel marriage finds freedom and romance with a mysterious knight, leading to a dangerous adventure across the countryside.

A woman sacrifices her own happiness for her younger siblings following her mother's death, nearly missing her chance at love.

Accepting a secretarial job at a remote Northumberland house inhabited only by men, Katie Mitchell becomes entangled in the complex and bitter relationship between her employer, the embittered polio-stricken writer Maurice Rossiter, and his brother Logan, discovering secrets and a web of deception within the household.

Emily meets and impulsively marries the charismatic artist Rory Balniel, moving to his ancestral home in Scotland. The marriage quickly deteriorates as she copes with his eccentric family, a mysterious woman named Marina, and Rory's violent temper, culminating in tragedy.