In 1815, eleven-year old Gabrielle de Saint-Aubain is caught on the fringes of the Battle of Waterloo and separated from her family. After giving aid to Andrew Drummond, a wounded British officer, her hands are burnt when she tries to get back into her home - she has convinced herself that her mother and younger brother are only sleeping on the floor: there is no blood on them, they don't look at all like the dead soldiers she had seen everywhere outside. Old Gaston, one of their gardeners, finds her and takes her in, initially in the hope to receive payment from her grateful father - she lives in his cottage for the next seven years, but continues her schooling with a retired teacher. Not knowing why she was not with her family during the fighting haunts her; when she has to leave the cottage after Gaston's death she decides to go back to the ruin which is her home, but nothing jogs her memory. She has lived there for several months when a gentleman shows up who immediately recognizes her - she doesn't, not even when he maintains that she not only saved his arm but most likely his life, and that he owes her a debt of gratitude. Rather than try to survive oncoming winter in her make-shift quarters she agrees to go with him to Drummond Hall to take care of his daughter Caroline, "a difficult child." Eventually she manages to gain Caroline's trust, is able to piece together what has caused her to stop speaking and what makes her so afraid of her mother and her companion. Gabrielle's quick action in an accidental fire saves the child and restores to her what she could not remember - read the book if you want to know what else happens