On a mild autumn afternoon in 1882; William Trenchard sits smoking his pipe in the garden of his comfortable family home. When the creak of the garden gate heralds the arrival of an unexpected stranger; he is puzzled but not alarmed. He cannot know the destruction this man will wreak on all he holds most dear... The stranger announces himself as James Norton; but claims he is in reality Sir James Davenall; the man to whom Trenchard's wife Constance had been engaged; and who had committed suicide eleven years ago. Sir Hugo; James's younger brother; and his mother; Lady Catherine; refuse to recognise Norton and force Trenchard--who fears the loss of his wife's affections--into an uneasy alliance against him. But Trenchard must plumb the depths of his own despair before the dark secrets of the Davenall family can finally; shockingly; be revealed...