Returning to her home on Paradise Row one chill October afternoon in 1696, the philosopher and writer Mary Astell finds a young girl has collapsed just outside her front door. Feverish and insensible, the girl is brought inside and put to bed. Once she has been revived, she refuses to give any account of herself, and she soon proves to be a difficult and unwelcome patient. A stern, quiet woman who spends her days in meditation and study, Mary Astell is confronted by a series of problems that disrupts her peaceful life and challenges her calm certitudes. To solve the mystery surrounding the young stranger who has arrived on Paradise Row, Mary Astell must negotiate the vast city of London and the obstacles women face there. As she makes her way through the dirt and danger of the crowded streets, Astell must also find a way through the political, legal, religious, and commercial institutions designed by those who have little interest, much less sympathy, for anyone who is not rich and powerful. And male.