Grace Rouse, a normal and beautiful young woman, is forced to recognise that her marriage is a sham after two years as the wife of a country parson She seeks to escape a mounting sense of frustration and despair by turning from the husband she has tried in vain to love to the comfort and release offered by another man Grace is forced to wage a war between a man who can give her children and a man who passionately desires children but can only give them his name