Lucy Cardwell has recently lost her troubled father, Tom. Visiting her father's childhood home, Carlyon Manor, Lucy meets an old woman named Beatrice who has an extraordinary story to tell. Growing up in the 1930s, Beatrice plays with the children of Carlyon Manor. Then, one summer at the age of fifteen, she falls in love with a young visitor to the town: Rafe Ashton, whom she rescues from a storm-tossed sea... As Lucy listens to the tales of the past, she learns a secret that will change everything she has ever known...