Kate Barnes is fourteen years old when she first experiences the strange gifts she has inherited from her grandmother's side of the family. She has a vivid waking dream, a memory of an earlier life centuries before in the small Somerset village of Oakey Vale, when she was murdered by an angry mob who believed her to be witch. Her grandmother decides the time is right to reveal to Kate some family secrets, including the ancient cave which houses the family tomb, over which the beautiful figure of a woman formed out of the rocks stands watch.

However, just as Kate is learning to develop her second sight, her further education with her grandmother is interrupted when her father insists she return to London. He is determined that Kate forgets her grandmother's teachings and get a job in order to help support their growing family. But, nothing will keep Kate from her destiny: to take her grandmother's place as local wise woman and guardian of the mysterious cave.