Maud Ruthyn, the young, naive heroine, has a governess who is an enigmatic older woman, a liar, bully, and spy, who takes a dark secret with her when she leaves. Maud is then orphaned and moves in with her Uncle Silas, her father's mysterious brother and a man with a scandalous - even murderous - past.

She is horrified to find her former governess appears in her life again, in this Gothic Victorian psychological thriller, with a touch of the occult.