What if the secrets of love could be uncovered?

It is the 1700s, the Age of Scandal, and Frederick, son of one of England’s great families, tortured by restlessness, forsakes his marriage in pursuit of the ideal woman. Under the spell of the mysterious Cardinal de Bernis, he sets out across the highways and byways of Europe in a hapless search. Just when it seems his quest is eluding him, he comes upon a strange parchment in the crypt of a Florentine library. Somewhere in Youth, Beauty, or Allure, reveals the parchment, you will find she who is beyond compare – a lady senza paragone as the Italians say.

Thus begins Frederick’s amazing journey through the swirls and curls of the great rococo palaces – a bumpy ride where he encounters outlandish characters, not to mention sadness and disappointment. It is only on his last trip to the Eternal City that Frederick, as if by the hand of fate, finds himself back on the once trodden road to Albano, outside Rome, to discover the answer in his dying breath.