Francis Kerswell is an unforgiving and embittered man, and when his orphaned, penniless grandchildren, Joanna and Ben Howarth, arrive at Falconwood, his Devonshire home, he cannot bring himself to set aside the grievances he has nursed throughout the long and lonely years.
For the sake of the estate, Kerswell is prepared to take in Ben, seeing in him a resemblance to his only son and heir, drowned years before. Though Ben has been brain-damaged since an accident, Kerswell feels challenged to try to restore his grandson to full health. But he will never provide a home - or money - for Joanna, and he packs her off to Exeter to be companion to the dull and religious spinsters, the Misses Polsham.
But Kerswell has underestimated his granddaughter's spirit and strength of purpose. Joanna is determined to be reunited with her beloved brother and to overcome the difficulties of her life - even if it means using her growing acquaintance with the son of her grandfather's old enemy, Nicholas Fox, whose quest for vengeance against his father's murderers places him in a position of wealth and power.
