1890, Daneburton, Hampshire: Maud Blake, spinster companion to flighty, young Emeline Hutchinson, is the least important woman at the weekly poetry circle. She sits at the back, barely able to see the poet who presides over them all, but she requires only his words to fuel her dreams. For twenty years Max has lived peacefully in the market town of Daneburton. He presides over his poetry circle and the clammering attention of the ladies who attend him, with formality and restraint. He thinks he has successfully avoided the death and betrayal of his past. What he doesn't realise is that his past is about to pay him a visit...