Two years after Emma Woodhouse married Mr Knightley and they have settled into loving, if not quite passionate, matrimony; Emma is bored.

To amuse herself, Emma decides to take up matchmaking again, whether her husband will have it or not. But this time Emma is playing for dangerously high stakes. Recently widowed John Knightley, her brother-in-law, is in need of a wife, so when a fascinating French woman enters Highbury society, Emma sees a golden opportunity.

Eliza d'Arblay is of French aristocrat whose parents fled the French Revolution. Beautiful, intriguing and romantic, Emma deems her to be the perfect match for John. But as Eliza charms Highbury society, John isn't the only one who falls deeply in love with her...a passion awakes in Emma that she never would have expected.