Marshwood. A tumbledown and isolated nineteenth century house, clinging to a windswept hill in western Dorset, once grand and beautiful, now falling to pieces because of lack of funds. It has been home to Bella Langton for years and she cannot bear to part with it. The only person in the family able to contribute to the upkeep of Marshwood is her granddaughter Isla's husband Richard. In a desperate attempt to convey to Isla how important Marshwood is, Bella begins to tell Isla about her early years there, years trapped in a loveless marriage to a First World War veteran, much older than she, and her forbidden love for a young French fighter pilot, Louis. Bella's story evokes strong feelings in Isla and she begins to tell her grandmother of her own troubled marriage to Richard, and of her secret feelings for her childhood sweetheart Jack, a war photographer, just back from Bosnia, with a tragic story of his own. Before they know it, both Bella and Isla are revealing startling truths about their lives that will shake their family to its very core. And as grandmother and granddaughter unravel family mysteries and reveal secret affairs, one question rises to the fore: Can you ever really go back and start again?