Eager to escape the heat of London in July, Terry Manstone is a vivacious young girl indulging her passion for Sussex's country in a hiking tour - only to find herself lost, with darkness and a storm approaching. Hoping to make it to the next village, she badly sprains her ankle and becomes an unexpected guest in a nearby house. Here she meets the handsome Dr. Blaise Farlong and his bitter, scheming wife Ruth. Never in her wildest dreams had Terry imagined that she would fall in love with a married man. Yet Ruth's machinations pushed her into his arms, and their problems are only just beginning. In the months that follow, this slight young girl and the frail doctor were victims of his wife's evil scheming and pursued by a hypocritical and hostile society can draw comfort only from one another, until the wicked plot is finally revealed.