Nellie Trent flees to Plymouth from the villainous debt collector, Daniel Quilty, where she tries to find a new life as a respectable shop keeper. Hampered by her abundant charms and easy virtue, she and her business slide into trouble until local squire and debaucher, John Truscott comes to her rescue. And makes an unusual suggestion ? to use their store to sell specialist items for the adult trade. Soon elevated to the status of a wealthy, if not respectable, citizen, Quilty returns, bent on evil, to fight a climactic duel with Truscott.