Jane Westover is a brilliant corporate lawyer in the City, a lonely, unpopular career girl determined to get to the top. But when illness forces her to accept a long rest, she sets out on a journey of self-discovery, which takes her back to her estranged family in the mysterious landscape of the Somerset Levels. She is astonished to find that its inhabitants can teach her more than she can teach them, and, initially reluctantly, she gets drawn into an old family feud to preserve their unique and precious region. But experience comes at a price. She soon falls in love with a man who as far as her family is concerned fights on the wrong side. In the end Jane must choose between the excitement of life with her sophisticated lover and the very different joys offered by the small town of Cossenford.