Secretly treasured memories of her grandmother's Italian house, perched high upon the mountainside in Tuscany, are very special for Carrie Stowe; for not only do they recall and preserve the happy childhood summers of the golden years before the devastation of the Great War, they are her only escape from the mundane and suffocating routine of her life with Arthur, her repressive and parsimonious husband. When she discovers that she has unexpectedly inherited the house, Carrie sets her heart upon going to Tuscany alone to dispose of the effects of Beatrice Swann, her eccentric and much-loved grandmother. Arriving late at night and in the teeth of a violent storm, she discovers that she is not the only person to be interested in the Villa Castellini and its family connections. A young man, an enigmatic figure from the past, is there before her. As Carrie reads the secrets of Beatrice's diaries and the enchantment of the house exerts itself once more, Carrie finds herself irresistably drawn to him...