The story of an improbable love that broke conventions and inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's masterpieces.

On May 18, 1880, in San Francisco, an unlikely couple exchanged silver rings before a perplexed pastor. The bride, was 40, divorced, a mother of two, and a failed painter. The groom was a penniless writer, sick and disowned by his family, ten years her junior. Their union seemed doomed to fail. Yet, by breaking with convention, Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson created a bond that gave birth to such literary classics as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island. Their love, imperfect but absolute, is the very essence of Stevenson’s work, written with, for, and thanks to Fanny.