Perhaps Tamar had been too young when she fell in love with Ross Falcon, master of the Big House, Falcon's Head, in her Irish village home.

At any rate, it had all ended in disaster, with Tamar's heart broken, her life in ruins - and Ross married to someone else. In despair, Tamar had run away to London, grown up, built a new life for herself, and told herself she had found happiness again.

Now she was back again in Falcon's Wherry. Ross had never left, and it did not take long for Tamar to realise that her feelings for him were as deep as ever, nor that all he felt for her was hatred. What was the point of her staying on, when it was all too clear that too much had happened for either of them to turn the clock back?