Yorkshire teacher Ellen Fenwick has never been abroad. But when her mother dies, this young woman finds herself taking a position as governess to an English girl in Florence in the summer of 1933. Little does Ellen realise how this girl, Juliet, and her family will claim her. For as the summer passes, Ellen falls so in love with Italy and her new home that she cannot bear to leave - even when her own hopes of love are cruelly thwarted. Even when the shadow of war falls across the country, she doesn't flee but clings on - for her friends, for those she loves more than herself. Ellen - selfless, big-hearted, accepting - cannot know what is coming. Yet, she will not face it alone.