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For twenty years, Henry Evans has been haunted by a blurred but shining memory of his lost love, Francesca Chisholm. They met backpacking in India where he won, and lost, her love. Now this shy American has come looking for her, in her hometown on the English coast.
What he discovers is not what he expects. Henry receives a welcome as warm as the unforgiving February weather: his hotel is flooded, and he is forced to stay at the foreboding House of Enchantment. Then the solicitor he asks for information about tracing Francesca advises him to regard Francesca as dead. And when Henry finally hears the truth, he understands why.
Francesca is in prison for murdering her five-year-old son.
The verdict was never in doubt. Francesca confessed to the killing, admitted it was she who pushed her son off the pier, to drown in the dark undercurrents of the sea. Henry, though, can't believe it; it just doesn't tally with the woman he knew. And so he decides to stay to discover the truth.
