Former headteacher Jane Cowan is making every effort to settle into her home in Wrayford, taking advantage of any spare time during the summer holidays to visit local National Trust properties. On one of its rare open days, she also visits a private stately home, Stockdene Court and realizes it will make a wonderful stop-off on her habitual cycle rides. But the next morning, as she passes the gates of the Court, she is sure she sees not animals but people scurrying from a stock wagon. Knowing the conditions from which some illegal immigrants are escaping, half of her wants to turn a blind eye, but when gunshots and a heart-wrenching scream break the morning’s calm, she realizes she is now involved in a very troubling situation.