Rachel Roberts, courageous TV correspondent needs a break. She inherits Stormhaven, stone cottage on a spur jutting into the estuary at Rushton. In the tranquillity of this remote area, she plans to relax, perhaps find answers to the horrors of conflicts she has reported in the recent past. Close to the cottage, starkly silhouetted against the sea, rears an old mill, inhabited by her nearest neighbour, an artist. This bitter individual, despite his alibi, is rumoured to be responsible for the murder of his late wife. Rachel is frustrated to find an element of danger even in this quiet place, but could never have guessed at the web of deceit, cruelty and evil soon to be discovered, as she begins to unravel the twisted skein of events set against the beauty of her new home.