Jem Darke, A Mistress of the Private House, is bored. So bored that she rashly accepts a challenge to submit to the harsh discipliary regime at the Chateau, where the Chatelaine and her depraved minions will delight in administering torments and humiliaton designed to make Jem abandon the wager and relinquish her supreme authority.Only the Sapphic bond formed between Jem and the other captives will give them the strength to surprise their tormentors - only their acceptance of the strict rules of pleasure and pain will win them freedom.