After her father dies in a riding accident, Gina Borne's mother loses the will to live and soon follows her husband to the grave. Not only is Gina grief-stricken – aged just 18, she faces a miserable, lonely life in the gloomy shadow of her pious uncle, who's known as "The Preaching Peer". Seeking escape, she successfully applies for a job as "companion" to the Earl of Ingleton's sickly seventeen-year-old ward, Lady Alice Hanbury.

It seems as though the spectre of Death is still stalking her when she finds herself at the ancient Ingle Priory, haunted by the spirits of a white lady, tortured prisoners and a crying child. Even her new charge, Lady Alice, seems to be at death's door – and Gina realises that an evil housekeeper is slowly draining Alice of life with daily doses of poison. It seems too far-fetched to be true – surely the Earl, kindly as he is, will never believe her... Plagued by ghosts in the night, Gina strives to save her new friend from this slow, cold death as she clings to the hope that blossoming friendship and the light of love will chase all this darkness away.