Janey Rutherford was the "in-between", the prosaic one of the family--not beautiful like her sister Diana or talented like Cynthia. So when it became necessary for one of the family to leave London for Yorkshire to nurse an irascible and eccentric old grandfather it was, of course Janey who had to take on the job.
The journey proved to be a turning point in Janey's life, for she found friendship and a sense of belonging in the little market town and on the untamed moor, found too through her meeting with Roderick Graham, the sweetness and bitterness of love.