On a summer weekend in 1926 the Ingham family gathers at Cavendon Hall, the great house in Yorkshire that has been their family home for centuries, summoned by the Earl. With them are the Swanns who have served the house for generations - and know all their secrets. The estate is under threat; the aftermath of the Great War has left Cavendon facing

The secrets of an aristocratic dynasty are about to be revealed? The year is 1949 and the Second World War has exacted a terrible price on Britain. The great Yorkshire estate of Cavendon Hall is facing bankruptcy. Its two families, the aristocratic Inghams and their retainers the Swanns, are at odds for the first time in living memory over the course that must be taken to save it. In London, a city still scarred by bombsites, the Earl?s niece, Alicia...

One of his guests is General Sir Alistair Craig VC, who swallows poison in the duke's excellent port and dies just as latecomer Lord Edward Corinth and journalist Verity Browne arrive on the scene. The unlikely pair -- the younger son of a duke and a journalist committed to the Communist Party find common ground as they seek for the truth behind the genera's murder and discover that everyone present -- including the duke himself -- had a motive for...