How far would she go to save her marriage? How far would he go to keep a promise? 1900. Eighteen-year old Hephzibah Wildman, homeless and destitute after the tragic death of her parents, becomes a governess at Ingleton Hall. Befriending Merritt Nightingale, the local parson and drawn to the handsome Thomas Egdon, she starts to rebuild her life. When she attracts the unwanted advances of her employer, the country squire Sir Richard Egdon, she makes the first of two desperate decisions that will change not only her own life but the lives of those around her.