With the defeat of the Spanish Armada, gentle Linnet Pennlyon imagines her life will be both secure and peaceful. But her quiet beauty attracts the roving eye of Colum Casvellyn, the powerful lord of Castle Paling. When he seduces her, marriage is inevitable. And gradually Linnet accepts her life at Castle Paling -- and the violent, passionate man she married so reluctantly. Then Maria arrives -- and the woman they call 'The Witch from the Sea' will bring terrible danger to Linnet and her children