After the success of her articles on adopted children, journalist Rona Parish is eager for a fresh challenge. A chance encounter with an old friend, Kate, now married into the Tarlton family who own the oldest jewellery shop in Marsborough, sows the seed of a new series. Rona will research the histories of several long-established family firms in the town, notably Tarltons and the Clarendon Hotel. Then, Kate enlists Rona's help in getting to the bottom of sister-in-law Freya's terrifying nightmares, which seem to hint at a buried childhood memory, and Rona finds herself drawn into the complex web of relationships linking the two families. At the same time she has problems of her own: her recently separated parents are both making demands on her; sister Lindsay is - as usual - torn between two equally unsuitable men, and Rona's artist husband Max is becoming worryingly involved with one of his young students.