The unrivalled partnership of Gerald and Isabel Partridge, both on and off the stage, had been a sensation and their early and tragic deaths set the seal on a legend which is still enshrined in their old home, Mistleden Ladies. Deep in the heart of the Kent countryside, the house is open to a public ever eager for details about their idols, and run by the Partridges' only child, the redoubtable Winifred Fleming, and her former daughter-in-law, Eve.

For Eve, Mistleden Ladies and her family are her life, and though one Partridge has deserted her, Gerald and Isabel remain untarnished. Then the chance discovery of a missing miniature drives her into understanding that the Partridges may not be all that they appear. The looming publication of a book that will threaten the family's reputation makes Eve determined to seek out the truth - even if this means approaching her former husband, Rick. Eve is pitchforked into a maze where no path is as it seems, and at its centre there lies a secret that throws the family into turmoil.