Julie Felton was returning home to the Norfolk Broads. On the wave of something that she could not understand, Julie said yes to Tony's proposal. She was concerned about the health of her father, her status in the new hospital, her relationship with Tony and her attraction to Adrian Harmer, the chief surgeon at her new hospital. From their first encounter Julie had felt Adrian's antagonism. Then she discovered they would be working together in the same hospital.

He neither liked nor trusted her. Or so it seemed. But she reckoned without Adrian, who took such a friendly interest in her father! For her father's sake, she would try to get along with this man who had become his friend, for which she was grateful. But gratitude, Adrian insisted, was not what he wanted - nor, she was to realize, all that she wanted to give. And what was going on in the Boatyard, her father's business?