At twenty-five, Gail Trevor suddenly found herself alone in the world, with very little money and no definite plans. But she was young and undismayed. There was a certain freedom about having nothing. She had no ties now. All was before her.

And then came the letter from her late father's* dearest friend, Josephine Sherwood. A letter which brings her to the town of Beverton.

Beverton, with its ancient buildings, its air of bustling activity, the river, the distant line of the moor and the feeling that the sea was not far away, rambling Holly Lodge, Aunt Jo and her two sons, George and Max, who were only a few years older than herself.

No summer, she thought, had ever held such promise, promise of a new life, of gaiety, happiness and perhaps even love.