James Markham’s family are shocked when he jilts his fiancee for a woman about whom he appears to know very little. When they meet Abigail they are swayed by her beauty and charm, but puzzled by the aura of mystery that surrounds her, and her reluctance to answer questions about her past. Callum Firbank is successful, with a loving family and a comfortable home. But he has always been evasive about his childhood, and his wife realises she knows little about her husband’s upbringing or family. Jill Irving runs a hotel in Dorset with her third husband Douglas. She has everything she could wish for: plenty of money, a leisurely lifestyle and opportunity for occasional illicit encounters. But she, too, has secrets in her past, and the facade she presents to the world masks a woman who lives in fear of discovery. What links these three very different people, and who is the mysterious stranger whose appearance in their lives seems to cause such terror?