In a reimagined England of the early 1800s, Ralph Chesterford is a young baron with a strikingly pale complexion—a rare inherited condition that has made him both a curiosity and a target within the unforgiving circles of the ton. Jaded by gossip and hardened by years of scrutiny, Ralph shields himself with biting wit and cold detachment, convinced he has no place in a world obsessed with appearances.

But his solitary routine is upended when he meets Riley Howard—a spirited and perceptive apothecary’s assistant with dreams of becoming a physician, despite the many barriers placed before women of her station and whose warmth defies expectation and whose resilience has been forged through her own quiet battles against bias.

As their worlds collide across class lines and societal scorn, Ralph and Riley must decide whether love can truly bloom in a world that was never meant to accept them.