In Gilded Age New York, marriages are arranged to benefit the rich. Rose Marie Johnson expects her beau, an acceptable suitor and member of the Four Hundred, to propose marriage. When he chooses to wed another, her mother schemes to force Rosa into wedlock with a wealthy man twice her age.

With his true identity concealed, Miquel Vicario arrives in New York with dreams of achieving fame as a concert pianist and composer. The young Marqués wants to succeed before he is expected to return to Madrid, Spain by his next birthday to resume his royal duties.

Passion ignites when the two meet, but the ladies' man isn't looking for a wife, and the heiress must decide whether to accept an arranged marriage or run away.