When Vernon Fulbright died, all his worldly possessions went to his nephew, Clayton Walker. In dollars and cents the inheritance was small, but in the change it brought to the young man's world, its value proved incalculable. The story is set in the small upstate New York town of Aldershot. When Clayton traveled to Aldershot to claim his inhertance, three things happened: he decided to settle and work in the peaceful hamlet; discovered his uncle had led a bizarre existance; and he fell in love with Eleanor Savage. However, their relationship proved a complicated affair. Eleanor had a past, one with a difference. She had moved to Aldershot ten years previous, but could remember nothing from before the move. Although the past had been erased from her memory it still possessed the power to control her life. She feared people, life, even the man she came to love. Knowing they could never be happy as things stood, Clayton went in search for those missing years, and ran headlong into danger. Someone needed to keep Eleanor's memory buried and were prepared to go to any length to achieve that goal. Including murder.