When Marianne and Steve inherit Moorhead House, which stands on the brooding Yorkshire moors, it seems the perfect place for her to write her modern version of Wuthering Heights. But the house has a dark secret. In 1826 it was owned by Sir Edward Sharpe, who dominated the household with his darkly perverse desires. Marianne finds herself haunted by the past, where she is totally at Sir Edward's mercy. Initially terrified, she is forced to endure his regime - a regime which soon holds her enthralled. Obsessed by the depravity of the past her ordinary life seems boring and even her writing changes, shocking both Steve and her agent. As Sir Edward tightens his hold on Marianne she becomes enslaved by her terrible obsession, until it threatens to consume her.