María Casilda Montero was born on a vast bull ranch in Southern Spain. Half English, half Spanish, was the adored favourite of her wealthy aristocratic father, she was wilful, adorable, selfish and enchanting. In 1909, the eight-year-olds Cassie was sent from her family hacienda to an English convent school. The beautiful and hot-blooded Cassy befriends Joscelin Howard, a shy and serious English girl from a humbler background. As a child, Joss falls in love with Alan Costain, Cassy's English cousin. Both girls find themselves and the two men who came to love them, were to be swept up in the dramatic events unfolding in Europe, and their enduring friendship is the only constant reference point in their lives. Set against the looming tragedy of the Spanish Civil War and the rising menace of Fascism in Europe, complex passions draw each girl into the drama and grandeur of aristocratic Europe. From the carefree glamour of London high society to the devastation of the battlefields in Spain, the two women and their families are tragically linked by passion and bloodshed.