One day, a lesson is visited by Sasha Dubrov, a famous ballet master who asks Harriet to join his company for a tour of South America, which will begin in Manaus.

Shortly after this incident, Harriet joins Edward, Aunt Louisa and the rest of the Trumpington Tea Circle on a tour of Stavely, an old stately home which is beginning to fall into disrepair.

While there, she leaves the group to explore the maze in the grounds, within which she meets Henry St. John Verney Brandon, the son of the estate's owner, reading a book entitled "Amazon Adventure".

Harriet, who has decided to run away to join the ballet company, promises Henry that she will search for 'The Boy' in Manaus, where he is thought to live.

She joins the Company and they practice for a week in Century Theatre before leaving for Manaus, where they will perform Giselle, Swan Lake, La Fille Mal Gardee, and Casse Noisette (The Nutcracker).

Meanwhile, in England, the elder Henry Brandon is dead, having committed suicide after bankrupting the estate, leaving Isobel widowed and penniless.

He pretends to be a doctor in order to smuggle her from her aunt's custody, and then tells her that he intends to marry her and make her the mistress of Stavely, which he has now purchased.

Edward has married a slightly violent Russian girl named Olga, a previous member of Harriet's ballet company.