It's New York and Long Island at the turn of the last century (1898 to 1900). A young orphaned Englishwoman, Lillie Lorimer, has come to America to seek a new life, only to find herself pitted against forces of evil and murder in the household of railroad tycoon Jay Caldwell, where she has been hired as a governess. She falls under the spell of the fabulously wealthy, handsome, and charming Jay - a man who is suspected of having slain his first wife and harboring murderous feelings toward his second, the mentally unbalanced mistress of Clifftop Manor.