New Year's Eve in Bombay, 1913. Madeline Bright, new to the sweltering heat of colonial India, is yearning for all she has left behind in England. At the stroke of midnight Maddy meets Luke Devereaux, and as the year changes so do both their lives. He opens her eyes to the wonders of Bombay, while Maddy's beauty and vivacity captures his heart. Her mother disapproves, preferring the devoted Guy Bowen as a match for her daughter. But the world is falling apart around them. World War I is on the horizon, and Luke will be given no choice but to fight. They will be continents apart, bound by Luke's promise that they will meet again in Bombay.