Frances Wainwright volunteered as a nurse in the Crimea because women in England are still barred from medical school and it's the only way she can acquire the training she wants to take over her mentor's practice when he retires. She serves on the frontlines for almost a year before the opportunity arises for her to take a post under Florence Nightingale at the Scutari Hospital.Scutari offers her more opportunities to enhance her skills than the front lines, but only because she works so closely with the gruff Irish head surgeon. Cormac Byrne has a chip on his shoulder the size of Antarctica, but he's a wealth of knowledge. Fran's going to ignore the way his glittering eyes make her body tingle. The sparks fly from the moment of their first meeting, and soon shared confidences become kisses over whiskey and long walks. Fran's cautiously hopeful she's found someone who will accept her exactly as she is. They lose each other during the final siege of Sebastopol, and Fran returns home broken-hearted.

Cormac isn't fit company for anyone since he returned from the Crimea. He walks with a cane now, and he constantly battles the yearning for opium to quiet the nightmares. He doesn't seek out the woman who was pure sunshine to his soul because he doesn't want to taint her with his darkness. They are unexpectedly thrown together again when they accept teaching positions at Nightingale's newly established London hospital.