Imperial Splendour

The Duke of Welminster travels to St. Petersburg on urgent business: Napoleon's army is marching toward Moscow, and the Russian court needs to hear what the English make of it. Romance is the last thing on his mind. He accepts an invitation to the household of Princess Sonia, an old acquaintance who has already decided he would make an ideal husband for her daughter, Tania.

At an evening of dancing, though, his attention goes to Zoia, Tania's young friend, rather than to the princess's daughter. Zoia's mother was disgraced for marrying beneath her station, and her father, a French musician, remains in Moscow, a city now under threat. The Duke soon finds himself under Zoia's spell.