A novel tracing the lives of gentry families in 17th-century Merionethshire and Caernarvonshire, portraying in particular the close friendship of Lady Margaret Wynne, wife of Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, and her maid, Begw. Scorned by her family-in-law, Margaret suffers from periods of depression and longing for her young daughter and her husband who spends a great deal of time in London