1814. The Napoleonic Wars reach even the quietest corners of England.

When Hugh Armstrong takes a post as a land agent in a remote valley of mostly Quaker tenants, he hopes for respectable and orderly life—far from violence and the secrets he would rather forget. But in a single day, he faces escaped French prisoners and a body thawing in the snow.

As unease spreads, he is drawn into the lives of the Hutton family, especially the fiercely independent Dorcas, who challenges everything he believes about the world.

Hugh must decide where he stands, what kind of life he wants, and with whom.