Doctor Burney had a busy household. His wife had died several years ago, but the rambling old village house hummed with the activities of 3 daughters. Young Suzy was still at school; Carola was the glamour girl of the family with ambitions to become a model; Rachel, the oldest, had volunteered to take on the job of housekeeping under the watchful eyes of Aunt Flo, but also found time for some freelance art work. As might be expected, Rachel's life was quiet, but pleasant enough—until the arrival of the new squire, Daniel Elliot, to whom she took an immediate disliked, Daniel was not a man to be ignored, as Rachel found when he showed signs of becoming a disturbing influence in the lives of all the doctor's family.