Darcey Norris is a businesswoman. To be sure, her partner Fayre Montgomery, is a bit of a flake more interested in men, it would appear, than worrying about their partnership but it worked. They ran an internationally successful enterprise that balanced their skills perfectly. When Darcey's friend Baird convinced her to assume responsibility for the strikingly handsome Charles, she reluctantly agrees - but only because he is the newly discovered illegitimate son of her guardian Max. She owes it to the memory of Max to look out for this precocious youngster.

As Darcey, Baird, and Charles are returning from a day's outing, Charles discovers a badly wounded man in the bushes by Darcey's door. This man wakes in the hospital with no memory of his name or how he came to be there grievously wounded. It looks like torture and the authorities want information. Even hypnosis further confuses the picture when their derelict insists he is Gilles de Rais and the time is the 15th Century. His last thought before waking up in the hospital is the overwhelming pain and the sight of the executioner lighting the fire at his feet.