Traumatised by a tour of duty in Iraq, Richard Gaunt's life has collapsed around him. His childhood sweetheart is gone, and even debt-collecting jobs are beyond his reach. A late-night gambling session ends in a bet: can he walk to Oxford by lunchtime the next day? Gaunt sets off, and as morning breaks his evening's winnings look set to double. But when men in a Jeep reverse into him, scooping him off the roadside, Gaunt enters a stranger world. Taken to a country house, he is kept hostage by a man with impeccable manners, Mr Khan. When the mysterious captor offers Gaunt ten thousand pounds to marry Adeena—a beautiful girl kept in the house against her will—he decides to accept. After initial suspicion, Adeena realises that Gaunt is her only chance, and they plan to escape.