Prudence Dudley was a woman who appeared to have everything: an undeniably attractive woman who had already achieved considerable success as a novelist. Yet she remained at odds with life after her sad rejected childhood and a more recent deeply wounding emotional crisis. Nearing a breakdown Prudence seeks support from her staunch and supportive Auntie Maggie and flees to her rented cottage in the Lake District. They encounter the owner of the cottage aggressive and overbearing David Bernard Michael McVeigh. In time Pru comes to learn that his iron façade is not the whole man and that life had dealt him as raw a deal as ever it had her. Relentlessly Pru finds herself drawn more and more into the affairs of a strange household. By helping those in her household will Pru come closer to finding her happiness?