Araminta, a beautiful, average-sized nurse, meets Crispin (the usual Neels hero; a large handsome Dutch doctor) when they both happen upon a girl with a broken leg who must be rescued from the foot of a Cornish seaside cliff. Later in the story, Araminta goes to Holland at the doctor's request, where an aunt of his, who fears she will be pushed out if Crispin marries, intimates to Araminta that Crispin loves another.