Lord Tristan Adair is a highly capable young Englishman. Born into a privileged class, circumstances have convened to make survival a grim struggle?though not in the ordinary way. He takes over the maintenance of an estate in Ireland at the request of his uncle. While there, he is made uncomfortably aware that some person?maybe more than one?is determined to murder him. Riona Murdock has a harrowing and tragic past. Her uncle, William Murdock, had jealously coveted his brother's wife for years. He arranges for Riona's home to be burned, her father to be murdered in cold blood, and her mother to die of grief. Riona's brother is set to sail on a slave ship bound for Australia. As for herself, she gets to marry the man who played a significant part in the events which destroyed her family. Or so her uncle tells her.