The Manor House of Nonesuch has been home to generations of passionate, headstrong Herringe women. But now that the last of them, the mysterious Stella (known by many as the Witch of Ashmore), is dead, burned in the fire which consumed the house and freed the feral cats which now inhabit its grounds, Nonesuch passes to her cousin, John Dawe. John loves Nonesuch but for his wife, Anna, the legacy is tainted, inextricably linked with the jealous woman who tried so hard to destroy her and the cats she holds dear. As John becomes increasingly obsessed with restoring the house, their relationship disintegrates. And Eleanor, the baby that should have brought them together, drives them further apart, for along with the Herringe family's disconcertinly green eyes, she has also inherited some unnerving characteristics. As Anna battles to shake off her growing sense of dread and save her crumbling marriage, the restoration work progresses and layers of history.