Overcoming a life of hardship and loneliness, Gemma Hardy, a brilliant and determined young woman, accepts a position as an au pair on the remote Orkney Islands where she faces her biggest challenge yet.

Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt go to Orkney in Scotland to see some intriguing Stone Age excavations. When the donor of the dig is found murdered, Dorothy and Alan launch an unofficial investigation into the murder.

"Orkney Islands, 1797. Agnes Tulloch feels a little cheated. This windswept place is not the island paradise her husband promised it to be when they wed. Now with four young children, she struggles to provide for her family while her husband grows increasingly distant. When a stranger comes ashore to rent an abandoned cottage, Agnes and the other islanders are abuzz with curiosity. Who is this wealthy foreigner and why on earth would he come to Eynhallow?...