Soon after Kate Fielding arrived at Whitesands, a dark and brooding house on the Cornish cliffs, she found herself threatened by a secret from the past. Why had Philip Leavengate's wife fallen to her death last year? What connection had the dead woman's cousin with the sinister house-keeper, Mrs. Treherne? Why were both of them so frightened of a seemingly innocent young boy who came visiting at Whitesands? Determined to unravel the shadowy mystery, Kate found her new love - and her life itself - in deadly peril. An unknown, unseen force of evil began filling her days with horror, and her nights with unspeakable terror.