A gothic romance novelist desperate for inspiration travels to Paris and reads a diary relating a tale of romance from the 18th century.

A gothic romance novelist is told by her boss to go out and do some new stuff, as she has overdone the fantasy-pirate-romance genre to death. She travels to Europe, and takes up residence in a haunted mansion. She finds an 18th century diary telling of an American woman who visited the family who owned the house, and shocked them with her flirtatious sexual manners. She ultimately shows her aunt and two cousins up as hypocrites. Inspired, the writer goes on to write a new series of romances.—<[email protected]>