Ann Preston looked forward to returning to the village of her childhood, deep in the romantic French countryside. Life had been a series of disasters, culminating with the death of her parents in a Brazilian air disaster. Now she wanted only to rest, to remake her life, and so she eagerly accepted a job as secretary to Pierre Duval. But the Duval chateau was the breeding ground for strange, dark forces.

There was Pierre, who in moments of insanity thought himself back with his beloved circus, on the high wire; Juliette, his wife, who insisted on hiring Ann... and who insisted on killing her; and Gaston, who was killed at Dien Bien Phu... and who inhabited the forbidden wing. Gaston: was he man... or ghost? Ann finds the web of terror being spun into a cocoon around her... and the cherished return to the land of her childhood changes into a nightmare of suspense and danger