Jean Abbott happily married for twenty years is devastated when husband Russ confesses that he's having an affair. Seeking time and space to rebuild her life she flees to tiny Scottish island Eilean Dubh on the pretext of tracing an ancestor who emigrated from there. He's the mysterious Uisdean whose letters to his lost lover Morag were found by Jean in family papers.

Jean meets Darroch Mac an Righ a television actor who is the Island's reluctant Laird...relucatnt because his great-grandfather gave up the title telling the Islanders they should rule themselves. Every eldest Mac an Righ male since has tried to get rid of the lairdship yoke but the Islanders want Darroch as their chief. He calls it "that bloody Laird business " but accepts the responsibility.

Discovering Jean's glorious singing voice Darroch invites her to join him and friends Jamie and Mairi MacDonald in performing lovely Island music which he teaches her as their friendship develops in cozy afternoons in his cottage.

Jean falls in love with the beautiful Dark Island as she becomes immersed in its music and legends weeds a haunted graveyard becomes assistant to a gourmet chef and learns the tragic story of Uisdean and Morag.

But it's not till Darroch is caught in a blizzard and ends up half frozen at Jean's cottage door that she realizes she's also fallen in love with the Island's Laird. Now she has a real problem she's married to a man who won't let her go and she wants another man...and his Island.

Audrey McClellan is a Minneapolis author who has been active in the Twin Cities Celtic community for twenty years. She is past president of the Twin Cities Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society co-founder and past president of the St. Piran's Cornish Society and past vice president of the St. David's Welsh Society. She has studied the Gaelic language and with husband Mike has traveled widely in Scotland. Audrey lives in south Minneapolis with Mike a cat a canary and six goldfish. She is a librarian at the Washburn Branch of Minneapolis Public Library.