1552. Fifteen years after Henry VIII's brutal reformation of the monasteries, Catholics in England still live in fear. When thirteen-year-old Celia da Bohun first meets Stephen Marsdon, a young Catholic priest, protestant Edward VI has been on the throne for five years. Reluctantly, Stephen agrees to be her teacher but as Celia grows older, her girlish adoration of him and his affection for her deepens into a passionate love that will not be extinguished - even by her violent death.

400 years later, history seems poised to repeat itself. Not long after the marriage of Richard Marsdon and his American wife Celia, something seems to go terribly wrong between them. It is only when Celia is forced to look deep in to the past that she has a chance to prevent another tragedy . . .