Margaret McCall, an ambitious freelance writer, believes she has discovered the story of a lifetime that had baffled the police for half a century. Backtracking to the year 1891, she focuses her investigation on Isabel Laughton, an unmarried woman who has a large mansion and wealth but is missing the thing she yearns for the most-a child.



As fate would have it, Peggy, mother of a prostitute, abandons her infant grandson on Isabel's doorstep. The moment she cradles him, a bond of a mother's love is instantly felt, and Isabel raises the child as her own, naming him Shawn.



For fifteen years, life is grand, keeping her secret safely intact, but then the unthinkable happens; Shawn's mother wants him back. Desperate, Isabel unleashes her vengeance and embarks on a murderous streak on all those who threaten to take him away from her.



Feathers...church bells...a mysterious stranger-are they somehow connected?



Margaret returns to the Laughton Estate, where she uncovers all the secrets. She learns of the madness and the reason Isabel's love for Shawn has extended beyond the grave.



Now the truth has placed Margaret in a precarious situation. Isabel cannot allow sixty-four years of cover-up to be ruined in a single day. Margaret, too, must be silenced.