Two entwined families: the aristocratic inghams and the swanns who serve them. The earl and countess rely on their faithful retainers alice and walter swann as their young family grows up. One stately home: cavendon hall, a grand imposing house nestled in the beautiful yorkshire dales a society beauty: lady daphne ingham is the most beautiful of the earl"s four daughters. Being presented at court and making a glittering marriage is her destiny. But in the summer of 1913, a devastating event changes her future foreverand threatens the ingham name. Yet life as the families of cavendon hall know it - royal ascot, supper dances, grouse season feasts and a full servant"s hall - is about to alter beyond recognition as the storm clouds of war gather.