Catherine Crawford, a young qualified school-teacher, applies for a position as house-keeper/governess to three small children living on a dairy farm in the Natal Midlands, in the Republic of South Africa. The old farmhouse is said to be haunted and to hold hidden secrets. Their father, Neil Middleton, is unpopular in the district, unapproachable and is known to have a filthy temper. Catherine goes to help him for the children's sakes and wonders what she has let herself in for!