Twins Dorabella and Violetta Denver are as different as morning and midnight. Fragile, frivolous Dorabella is impetuous, while Violetta is sturdy and practical -- and quite uneasy about Dorabella's impulsive marriage to Dermot Tregarland. Then, just after the arrival of her first child, Dorabella disappears, believed drowned and swept out to sea. Violetta refuses to accept this explanation. She comes to stay with Dermot to help care for the baby, hoping to find out what really happened to her sister. With the help of a handsome neighbor, Jowan Jermyn, Violetta reaches closer to the shocking, dangerous truth, a legacy of love, loss, and madness come full circle . . . .