The selfless love Tessa felt for her grandmother was a natural, ingrained thing; her pride in her family tradition an unquestioned duty, an essential part of being a Jasmyn. Why, then, as she grew up, did she occasionally yearn to be free of Barmote Hall? Was it simply a longing to escape to the village and Reuben Bateman, or was her unhappiness in some strange way linked to the misgivings aroused in her by Grandmamma's tenant at the Lodge, the enigmatic Mrs Masson? Tessa's struggle for spiritual freedom involves her in the discovery of a wrong as cruel as it is unexpected.