Anna Fontenay returns to Fontenay Castle to fulfil the last wishes of her husband David; to restore the gardens round the ruins of the old castle and make them a paying concern. There is one exception - the former rose garden that was obliterated by a flying bomb in WWII. She hires Joss Foxley, the enigmatic landscape gardener to help restore the gardens, but she hasn't foreseen the problems this causes with Hugo Brooks, who rents Fontenay Place, the 18th century house built to replace the old castle. A skeleton is unearthed in the ruins of the gardens, and in discovering the truth about how it came to be there, Anna is drawn not only into a rivalry between the two men - unable to be certain whether it is over herself or Fontenay - but back into the age-old feud between the Fontenay and Sinclair families. Anna believes that this feud belongs only to history, but she is to find that it is still relevant today in her search for the truth.