A young Marquise, caught in mortal danger in the midst of a furious battle, falls into a deep swoon. She comes round moments later, however, safe within her castle and apparently unharmed, and is able to resume her life in gratitude and complacency. So when, weeks later, she is alarmed by strange periods of faintness and indisposition, the solution that suggests itself seems entirely irrational. How could the widowed young Marquise be pregnant? And what will her parents say?