A television movie based on a fantasy/adventure novel by Barbara Cartland set in the south of France. Mistral, a beautiful girl on the edge of adulthood, leaves the convent in which she was raised to live with her Aunt Emilie, unaware that her aunt is a ruthless manipulator who will use anyone to get what she wants. Mistral is quickly enmeshed in a vicious plot of revenge A chance meeting between a British nobleman and the lovely young Mistral (Lysette Anthony) foils a plot by her manipulating Aunt Emilie to avenge the death of her sister. But when an unscrupulous blackmailer and a rapacious Rajah enter the fray, the growing attraction between Lord and convent girl becomes yet more fraught with danger. The Principality of Monte Carlo in 1883 provides the colourful backdrop to a tale of murder, madness and intrigue that threatens the course of true love.

年轻的Panthea Vyne女士爱上了从她残酷的丈夫手中救了她的英俊的拦路强盗。他在一场公平的决斗中杀死了她的丈夫。后来，当查理二世复辟为英国国王时，她前往宫廷。但在这里，她成为国王的前情妇的敌人，针对她的阴谋越来越大。

斯坦福爵士（克里斯托弗·普卢默 Christopher Plummer 饰）嗜赌如命，在全部家产挥霍殆尽之后，丧心病狂的斯坦福竟然将自己的小女儿萨瑞娜（海伦娜·伯翰·卡特 Helena Bonham Carter 饰）当做了最后的筹码。毫无意外地，斯坦福再一次地输了，走投无路的他在绝望中结束了自己的生命。 就这样，年轻美丽的萨瑞娜成为了荒淫无度的沃瑟姆勋爵（爱德华·福克斯 Edward Fox 饰）的所有物，可正当沃瑟姆得意之时，一位名叫沃肯（马库斯·吉尔伯特 Marcus Gilbert 饰）的英俊男子夺走了萨瑞娜并将她带回了自己城堡之中。城堡中居住的是沃肯的母亲哈雷德（黛安娜·里格 Diana Rigg 饰），贪婪的她利用城堡作为掩护经营着罪恶的勾当。一次偶然中，萨瑞娜撞破了哈雷德夫人的秘密，本就不喜欢萨瑞娜的哈雷德夫人开始设计企图除掉萨瑞娜。