Fiercely independent, single and pregnant, university lecturer Ellis Jones has fled her career and found refuge in the small primitive Suffolk cottage she inherited from her Great Aunt Nell. Here she intends to spend the rest of her pregnancy on her own, sparing her young lover Joe from being saddled with fatherhood before he is ready. In the dusty fireplace of the cottage, she finds a diary hidden in a package addressed to herself. At first Ellis cannot believe it is intended for her, but as she slowly reads, savouring the spidery entries night by night, she pieces together the extraordinary story of Nell's own life, her love for the untouchable Lawrence, and the abandoned garden which becomes her solace in the face of overwhelming tragedy. A tale of extraordinary passion, courage and great sadness, coloured by the effects of the second world war and the stifling morality that preceded it, it leads Ellis to sift through the long buried secrets for the truth of her own background and to welcome the love she has tried so hard to suppress.