Only Willoughby Tetford, the American self-made millionaire, was shrewd enough to have any misgivings when his beautiful daughter, Willow, married the handsome English aristocrat. Willow herself, seventeen, innocent and deeply in love with her new husband, Rowell Rochford, had complete trust and confidence in the future as she arrived at Rochford Manor in England. And when Rowell's matriarchal French grandmother handed her the keys of the house and told she was the new Chatelaine, Willow believed she held the keys not only to the multitude of rooms of which she was now the mistress but also to love and happiness. On her arrival, she is greeted warmly by her four brothers-in-law: Tony, quiet and studious; Pelham, teasing and flirtatious, the spoilt Francis and the sensitive Rupert. But she has no inkling of the obsession which grips old Lady Rochford because of events in the past to which she, Willow is ignorant. Nor does she realise the terrible repercussions the obsession will have on her own life.