Hundreds of miles from their grand Australian home, a tragic accident robs a young girl of her parents. As yet, this means nothing to the Belleville family of Prior Park, especially Julia, the only daughter, who has been married to local property owner James Fitzroy for nearly ten years.
Alistair McGovern is pressing his unwelcome claims for inclusion in the family. But his very existence must be kept secret from matriarch Elizabeth Belleville, now a widow.
Elder son Richard Belleville's aristocratic wife Catherine longs to return to her life in England. Unexpected events in her English family could provide the perfect excuse.
And in New York, Dr Philippe Duval receives a letter from the past which he cannot ignore.
For each of them, there are long buried secrets from the past that will begin to surface to reveal the depths of the betrayals within their midst and the bitter legacy for those who remain.
In a dramatic finale, Prior Park itself must pay a price as the secrets and betrayals are brutally revealed.
In book two of the Belleville family saga, J Mary Masters has created a compelling story of a family whose lives are entwined in a web of secrets and lies that bind them together until one by one the secrets are painfully and ruthlessly revealed.