Wimborne Minster, 1817: Widowed Lydia Calcott's only friend is departing for Bath, leaving her to endure the silent bitterness of life with her reclusive mother. On the way home from the market, despairing at her situation, she is attacked by a stranger and thrown into the Stour.
Major Mark Roper, trying to forget the horrors of war by restoring the dilapidated manor which he has inherited from a dissolute great-uncle, hears her desperate cry for help, and races to the rescue.
New friendships are forged, and love begins to bloom; but a murderer still walks the Dorset countryside, and old enmities awaken which threaten everything Lydia holds dear.
This is a traditional character-driven Regency romance, with a troubled hero, a valiant heroine, a delightful supporting cast, and the ancient market town of Wimborne as a backdrop.