Rosalie Beckwith, a New York City newspaper romance advisor, is told by her editor that he is thinking about discontinuing her column because there is no such thing as true romance. Rosalie bets her job against a month's wages that she can find a real romance story within forty miles of the office, and selects, at random, the small town of Essex, Connecticut. However, when she arrives in Essex, Rosalie is mistaken for Madame Murat Bey, a distant relative of wealthy wounded war hero Robert "Bob" Stratton and the co-heir of his estate. Accepting the situation, Rosalie discovers that Dr. Thomas Fitch, Bob's family physician, is conspiring with his sister, Grace Fitch, to poison the patient before he discovers Fitch has embezzled funds belonging to the estate. When the Fitches realize Rosalie has uncovered their perfidy, they throw her into a well. Then Grace, disguising herself as the "real" Madame Bey, arrives to announce that Rosalie was an imposter. Rosalie escapes in time to prevent Bob from eating poisoned food, Dr. Fitch is killed by toxic fumes in his laboratory, and Grace is arrested. Rosalie gives up her newspaper job to live with Bob.