Cadmus is content to spend his days quietly tending his shop and creating custom toys, music boxes, and automatons for his clients. It's a peaceful life, minus the occasional hostile visit from a rival who wants to know the secret behind his creations, which require no winding to work.
Then an intriguing new client, Lady Serena, blows into his shop requesting he make a gift for the man she loves but is forbidden to be with. She is followed shortly by her father, the notorious Chief of Police Harren Imperia, who ends up taking Cadmus out for coffee—and introduces him to Lord Paali, whose son is the object of Serena's affection.
As he is dragged further into their dizzying world, he finds himself facing problems he never expected: being caught between the wishes of the parents and the wants of the children, and drawn helplessly to the fierce Harren and intriguing Lord Paali…