Feeling suffocated after a repeated assassination attempt leads to increased security at the Palace, Victoria seeks escape to the land she fantasised about as a child: the Scottish Highlands. However, it isn't the romantic retreat she has read about in her Walter Scott novels, and she begins to realise that, wherever she is in the world, she can't escape the fact that she is Queen.

When a day out takes an unexpected turn, Victoria finally gets the anonymity she wished for, while Albert enjoys being able to play the role of a traditional husband for the first time. Hidden away from normal Palace life, the entire court - servants and royals alike - find secrets and romance bubbling up to the surface on a liberating midsummer's night.