When Alix Berringer is jilted almost at the altar by the man she loves, she makes a journey to New Zealand to visit her grandfather and try to forget.

But the story of a love that blossomed fifty years ago on the island of Crete brings her back, to trace the girl who helped her grandfather evade capture by the invading Germans and then fell in love with him - a love he has never forgotten.

To Alix, the task seems simple enough - but she has not reckoned with the ancient traditions and fierce family loyalties that still abide on Crete. Nor does she have any idea that she will meet two men who will tear at her own loyalties - Gil, the handsome Englishman who offers his help, and Lukas, the arrogant Cretan who traps her into an unwilling engagement and refuses to let her go.

What is the secret of the old romance, a secret that has reverberated through half a century? There are more surprises in store for Alix as she tries to unravel the mystery, in a story of age-old passion that takes place against the brilliant backcloth of one of Greece's most beautiful islands.