eugenie bronstein, a young american tourist, is accidentally forced into posing as the monarch of a small east european country in order for her coronation to take place. queen alexandra is mysteriously missing and it is too late to cancel the ceremony, so eugenie is pressed into service as her double. when the coronation is over, the queen's aides and advisors believe that she has been kidnapped by her uncle, prince nicholas, who covets the throne for himself and desires alexandra's abdication. with eugenie on the throne in alexandra's place, prince nicholas cannot release the queen or demand ransom without exposing himself to prison or exile. eugenie must keep up the masquerade in the face of threats from nicholas's faction and the danger of being unmasked by the queen's former fiancé, prince rupert, and his journalist friend joan wright. to complicate her ability to play the role, which she plays for alexandra's sake, eugenie finds herself very much in love with the queen's future prince consort, prince freidrich. the dilemma eugenie faces is how to safely abandon the throne, restore alexandra to it, and endure the pain of leaving freidrich behind to marry the queen as he is duty bound to do.