Trevander, clinging to the wild Cornish coast... Three young women - the divorcee, the evacuee and the dancer - harbour secrets of love, loss and betrayal which will bridge the centuries. Lillie probes the mystery surrounding her grandfather's disappearance at sea, Barbara tastes first love, at sixteen, obsessed by the wartime fugitive concealed in deserted Rosmelyn, whilst Polly, bound by loyalty to the Vivyans of Menalowen, pursues a career unthinkable for a country parson's daughter. With the advent of the Chestnut Tiger the lives of Lillie, Barbara and Polly become irrevocably entwined though the women themselves are destined never to meet.