In second century AD, Claudia leaves Rome for the far northern province of Britain where her new husband, Publius, is commander of a frontier garrison. But for their love, she is isolated in a strange land. In the late twentieth century, Miranda Tattersall - the iconic model Rags - becomes the third wife of her great love, Lord Frederick Stratton, so beginning a love affair with the Strattons great house, Ladycross, near Northumbrias great Wall. When her husband dies, Rags must decide between honouring the past and embracing the future. Roberta Govan, long divorced after a brief and disastrous marriage, finally buys a place her own, away from all past attachments and associations. Or so she thinks. Claudia, Rags, Bobby: their stories are linked by a wild and beautiful place; the events that brought them to it, and the powerful loves that made it home.