At the age of 17, Georgiana Spencer is married to the Duke of Devonshire. She soon realizes that hers is to be a loveless marriage and her only purpose in the arrangement is to provide her husband with a male heir. She hasn't much good fortune on that front, producing two daughters and having several miscarriages as well and it is many years before she succeeds. What relationship she does have with her husband breaks down completely when he begins what proves to be a lifelong affair with her best friend, Bess Foster. She does make a life for herself, becoming quite active in politics and the fashion icon of her day.