When elderly Ailsa Lockyer-Fox is found dead in her garden, dressed only in nightclothes, the finger of suspicion points at her wealthy, land-owning husband, Colonel James Lockyer-Fox. A Coroner's inquest gives a verdict of 'natural causes' but the gossip surrounding James refuses to go away. Why? Because he's guilty? Or because resentful women rule the roost in the isolated Dorset village where he lives? Shenstead has become a ghost town and, with only five houses in permanent occupation, it's a place of too few people and too many secrets...

Jane had always lived in somebody's shadow. Escaping a childhood of abuse by marrying oceanographer Oliver Jones, she finds herself taking second place to his increasingly successful career. However, when her daughter Rebecca is similarly treated, Jane's dramatic stand takes them all by surprise. Leaving Oliver and his whale tapes behind in San Diego, Jane and America set out to drive across America to Uncle Joley and the sanctuary of the Massachusetts apple orchard where he works. Joley directs Jane across the United States in a series of letters waiting for her in designated post offices. Each letter gives concise directions and a chance for Jane to reflect on her forgotten past.