When Louise returns to the house where she was brought up, old violence stirs beneath the calm surface. Only by unravelling these secrets which the Braithwaites, in their fierce family pride, have deliberately hidden, or deliberately forgotten, can she arrive at the truth about them and about herself.

When Louise returns to the house where she was brought up, old violence stirs beneath the calm surface. What, for instance, is the significance of the rare Chinese lily carefully raised by her grandmother in the odd greenhouse, perched high up on the side of the garden?