Beautiful, flame-haired eighteen-year-old Princess Thea is horrified when her father King of a Balkan country called Kostas tells her she must marry the old, white-haired King Otho. So, taking her beloved horse Mercury, she flees the palace and finds herself lost in the wooded mountains. There she meets an overwhelmingly handsome artist called Nikōs who seems to be able to read her thoughts– and almost instantly the two fall in love.But then a gang of bandits takes them prisoner. Fearing for what the wicked men will do to Thea, Nikōs tell them that she is his bride. The ruse is successful – and after their escape, the couple make the untruth true with a Wedding Service in a woodland church straight out of a fairy tale. But how will Thea explain to her Royal family that she is now married – ?