Alice's father is a wildly progressive publishing magnate, and Alice herself is, for her time (the early 20th century), a surprisingly liberal young woman. She becomes engaged to an army officer who is also the son of a baronet, but when her father gets into hot water for publishing a sex manual, the wedding is off. But Alice is pregnant, and Alice flees to Russia to become a governess--just as World War I and the Russian Revolution are looming in the offing...