‘It was then she became aware that Mrs Blackstock was eyeing her with a thoughtful, faraway look, Joanna had a weird sensation that was being mentally taken apart and examined, bit by bit…. ’ Suddenly left alone in the world, Joanna Forrest and her younger sister slowly come to terms with their new life. But their routine is shattered one day by the arrival of a charming yet totally unpredictable poet. Both women become increasingly obsessed with this man who seems to take over their beautiful riverside house and gradually their lives. Then violence and tragedy reach out and the dream is shattered… Some years later, Joanna moves to a faraway Yorkshire moorland village with her foster-child, little red-haired Maggie, who knows nothing about her sinister heritage. Perhaps Joanna should now feel secure in this remote community, though eccentric Mrs Blackstock, the local medium, has detected the dark shadows in her past… and senses dangers yet to come. Meanwhile Maggie herself has begun to notice a mysterious stranger hanging around the playground of the village school, quietly waiting and watching… But for whom? And all Joanna’s deepest fears and forebodings are about to erupt in violence and terror.