The first in the new Country House Saga. When Jessie Hale loses her nursing job at the end of the First World War, she leaves London to take up the post of nursery maid to the Kendle family in Devon. But when she arrives it is to find an unhappy household. The elderly nanny has collapsed with a slight stroke and Captain Kendle, although a loving father, is apt to retreat into long silences and depression following his experiences during the war. Gradually Jessie finds her niche within the household, becoming devoted to Captain Kendle's lively son and his lovely but quiet daughter and also to his invalid mother. But although Jessie loves her job and her life at Kendlebury Hall, problems arise when she begins to fall in love with her employer . . .