Harriet Winthrop-Bates and Marsh Pembroke, Earl of Morland, who had been romantically involved twenty years previously, are brought together again when her daughter and his son elope to Gretna Green. Both parents dislike the idea of further contact, because their early relationship had ended acrimoniously. However, they reluctantly join forces to prevent their offspring making what they know will be a disastrous match, setting off together in hot pursuit.