Lillian Haswell, brilliant daughter of the local apothecary, yearns for
more adventure and experience than life in her father's shop and their
small village provides. She also longs to know the truth behind her
mother's disappearance, which villagers whisper about but her father
refuses to discuss. Opportunity comes when a distant aunt offers to
educate her as a lady in London. Exposed to fashionable society and
romance--as well as clues about her mother--Lilly is torn when she is
summoned back to her ailing father's bedside. Women are forbidden to
work as apothecaries, so to save the family legacy, Lilly will have to
make it appear as if her father is still making all the diagnoses and
decisions. But the suspicious eyes of a scholarly physician and a
competing apothecary are upon her. As they vie for village prominence,
three men also vie for Lilly's heart.