For Maggie Ossian and her mother few summers pass without a visit to the beautiful village of Asherby Cross, enchanting summers which to Maggie bring the added delight of reunion with Lilian, who declares Maggie to be her closest friend. Sometimes Maggie feels a strangeness between them she cannot understand, and never more than this summer, when she gradually uncovers the dreadful secret behind Lilian's strange behaviour - a heartless romantic entanglement which leads to tragedy and death. Maggie is not the only person who knows, and in an atmosphere of growing tension and inevitable catastrophe, retribution suddenly comes from an unexpected quarter...