New York, December 1899.
In the midst of preparations for her New Year's Eve Ball to celebrate the new century, Ginny Thornton's life begins to fall apart. Due to an unscrupulous business deal, she loses Malmaison, her family estate, to the Sutter clan. Then her husband, melancholic over their troubled finances, takes his own life, and Ginny's world comes to an end . . . or does it?

December 30, 1999.
Ginny wakes up in her conservatory to discover that a hundred years have passed. Dr. Samuel Sutter, a descendant of the family she blames for her misfortunes, has been left in charge of Malmaison for the New Year's Eve party that will bring in funds for a complete renovation. Allowing people to believe she's the estate curator, Ginny hopes to find some clue that will give her back her home. But she cannot sustain her ruse indefinitely, and she finds herself drawn to the man whose name she hates above all else -- but whose gentle nature has found its way into her heart . . .