The arrival of a drunken drug-addicted governess and an encounter wth a brutish young man are the beginnings of a web of deception and terror for Maud.

After her father's death, Maud moves in with Uncle Silas, refusing to believe the horrifying allegations about his involvement in the murder. Two sinister figures reappear from the past and stir up the doubts and fears...

Maud is to go to France with Madame. At the hotel she's drugged and finds herself locked up in Bartram, instead of at Dover. She realises that her uncle wants her inheritance.