Sarah Connolly leaves a bleak past in London to help an old friend in Venice. There, she discovers dark secrets and a mysterious, rather shadowy figure--he is Sebastian Grimsthorpe, Earl of Wortham. Grimsthorpe once lead a carefree life, but is now bent on exacting revenge on the man (Bertrand de Lint) who had nearly destroyed him. His plot is obscured when he discovers Sarah, whose tragic eyes mystify him and seduce him (and her) into a world of secrecy and deception.
