When her brother and sister-in-law, alienated by a family quarrel, were killed, leaving a baby son and daughter, Claire felt it her duty to go over to France to visit the children. It had been a big decision to make, as she foresaw that she would meet with some hostility from the children's French relatives - in which she was quite right. But what Claire had not foreseen was the overbearing attitude of her small nephew’s godfather, the enigmatic Louis de Carceron. In France, he told her, the godparent has almost the rights of a parent —but that didn't give him any rights over her! Claire told herself indignantly. Nevertheless, Louis took it upon himself to veto her friendships, first with Tony Kirk, then with Léon Frautbois. What had her private affairs to do with this bossy Frenchman?