Shadow of the past

Tobias Campion, rector of Moreton St. Jude, is delighted to welcome the widowed Lady Chase as his parishioner. Although charming and generous-spirited, she harbours a secret sorrow: her son, Hugo, is missing, presumed dead, though she continues to believe that he will one day reappear. Her late husband's nephew, Sir Marcus Bramhall, does not share her hopes. Instead, he speaks of bringing a court case to declare him the heir.

Then Ms. Southey, the Bramhall family's ill-treated governess, disappears on the very day that the body of a stranger is found in a local river. When it transpires that the man might have been bringing news of the missing heir, Tobias and his loyal groom, Jem Turbeville, are forced to quit their beloved village to uncover the truth. Unfortunately, many of those they encounter are equally determined to keep the past well hidden.